IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) fe 1.0 I.I l^m 12.5 1^ 1^ IIW' 2.0 12.2 t li£ 1.25 Hill 1.4 III 1.6 V] vl a %''^ /: /^ %^V^ '/ Hiotographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14SP0 (716) 872-4S03 ■^ V :\ ,v \ ^ . CHAPTER I. THB hTOr.M, AND WHAT IT BR0T70HT. The sultry September day was drawing to a close, aud as the sun went down, a dark thunder^cloud came slowly up from the west, muttering in deep undertonus, aud omitting occasional gleams of lightning by wa^ of her- alding the coming storm, from which both man and beast intuitively sought shelter. Ere loa({ the streets of xMay field were desert- ed, save by the handsome carriage and span •f spirited grays, which went dashing throu&;h the town toward the large house upon the hill, the residence of Judge Howell, who paid no heed to the storm, so absorbetl was he in \ the letter which he held in his hand, and which had roufed him to a state of fearful excitement. Through the gate, aud up the long avenue, lined with giant trees of maple and beech, the horses flew, and just as tho rain came down in torrents they stood pant* ing before the door of Beech wood. " Bring me a light I Why isn't there one already here ?" roared the judge, aa he stalk- ed into hi? library, and bangea the door with a crash scarcely equalled by the noise of the tempest without. "Got up a little thunder-storm on hibswn ac- count ! Wonder what's happened him now 1" muttered Rachel, the coloured housekeeper, as she placed a lamp upon the table, and then silently left the room. Scarcely was she gone when, seating him- self in his arm-chair, the Judge began to read again the letter which had so much disturb- ed him. It was post-marked at a little out- of-the-way place among the backwoods of Maine, and it purported to have come from a young mother, who asked him to adopt a little girl, nearly two months old. *' Her family is fully equal to your own," the mother wrote ; "and should you take my baby, you need never blush for her parent- age. I have heard of you, Judge Howell. I know that you are rich, that you »;e com- F»ratively alone, and there are reasons why would rather my child should go to Beech- wood than any other spot in the wide world. You need her, too— need something to com- fort your old age, for with all your money, you are far from beirg happy." "Thedeucel atn!"muttered the Judge. "How did the trollop know that.or how did she know of nm, any way ? I take a child to comfort my old age! Ridiculous I Im not old— I'm only tifty— just in the prime of life ; but I hate young ones, and I won't have one in my house I I'm tormented enough with Uachers dozen, and if that madame brines hers here, I'll » The remainder of the sentence was cut short by a peal of thunder, so long and loud that even the exasperated Judge was still until the roar had died away ; then, resuming the subject of his remarks, he con- tinued : "Thanks to something, this letter has been two weeks on the road, and as she is tired of looking for an answer by this time, I sha'n't trouble myself to write— but what of Richard ? — I have noi yet seen why he is up there in New Hampshire, chasing after that Hetty, when he ought to have been hom# weeks ago;" and taking from his pocko another and an unopened letter, he read why his only son and heir of all his vast posses- sions was in New Hamshire " chasing aftet Hetty," as he termed it Hetty Kirby was a poov relation, whom the Judge's wife had taken into the family, and treated with the utmost kindness and consideration ; on her death-bed she had committed the young girl to her husband'* care, bidding him be kind to Hetty 'or hei sake. In Judge Howell's crusty heart there was one soft, warm spot — the memory of hii wife and beautiful young daughter, the lattei of whom died within a few months after hei marriage. They had loved the orphan Hetty, and for their sakes, he had kept her unti' accident revealed to him the fac-t that to hit son, then little more than a boy, thore was nc music so sweet as Hetty't voice— no lighl so bright as that which shone in Hetty'r ' eye. Then the lion was roused, and he turned her from his door, while Richard wa» threatened with disinheritance if he dared tc think again of the humble Hetty. Thert was no alternative birt to submit, for Judge Howell's word was laio, and, with a sar farewell to what had been her home so long, Hetty went back to the low-roofed hous* among the granite hills, where her moth*' MITDRED. mid halfimbecile grandmother were liv- ing. Uichard, too, returned to college, and from tluit time no'ufi word had passed Wetsveon the father and tlie hou c()iioernin« the ofTfiding Hetty until now, when llichard wrote tiiat ehu was dead, togetlier with her grandmother — that n«wsof lier illnoas had been forwarded to him, and immtdiattly after leaving college, in July, he had hastened to Kew Hampshire, and stayed by her until she died. " You can curse me for it if you choose," he said, " but it will not make the matter better. I loved Hetty Kirby while living, I love her memory now that she id dead ; and in that little grave beneath the bill I have buried my heart forever." The letter closed by saying that Richard would possibly be home that uight, and he asked that the carriage might be iu waiting at the depot. The news of Hetty's death kept the judge silent for a moment, while his heart gave one great throb as he thought of the fair-haired, blue-eyed girl, who had so often ministered to his comfort, '• Poor thing, she's in heaven, I'm sure," he said ; " and if I was ever harsh to her, it s too late to help it now. I always liked her well enough, but I did not like her making love to Hichard. He'll got over it, too, even if he does talk about his heart being buried in her grave. Stuff and non- sense ! Just as if a boy of twenty knows where his heart is. Needn't tell me. He'll come to his senses after he's been homo a spell, and that reminds me that I must seud the carriage for him. Here Ruth," he con- tinued, as he saw a servant passing in the hall, ' ' tell Joe not to put out the horses, or if he has, to harness up again. Richard is coming home, and he must meet him at the station." Ruth departed with the message and the Judge again took up the letter in which a child had been offered for his adoption. Very closely he scrutinized the handwriting, but it was not a familiar one to him. He had never seen it before, and, tearing the paper in pieces, he scattered them upon the floor. The storm by this time had partially sub- sided, and he heard the carriage wheels grinding into the gravel as Joe drove from the house. Half an hour went by, and then the carriage returned again ; but Richard was not in it, and the father sat down alone to the supper kept in waiting for his son. It was a peculiarity of the''Judge to retire pre- cisely at nine o'clock ; neither friend nor foe could keep him up beyond that hour, he said ; and on this evening, as on all others, the lights disappeared from his room just at tlie nine o'clock bell was iieard in the dis« tance. But the Jud^^e was nervous to- night. The thunder which at intervals con- tinued to roar, made him restless, and ten o'clock found him even more wakeful than he had been an hour before. " What the plague ails me ?" lie exclaimed, tossing uneasily from side to hide, "and what the deuce can that be? IJachel's baby as I live I What is she d(»ing with it here ? If there's anything I detest, it is a baby's E(}uall. Just hear that, will you T" and raising bnnself upon his elbow he listened intently to what w;ingliam dnss. " 'f liar's sometliin' fas- tuiieil tu't,'' she said, and, removing the l)lAiiket, hho saw something pinned to the iiifiint's waist. "This may 'splaiu the mat- ter," dlie continued, passing it to the Judge, who read, in tlie same haud-witing aa the lett»!r: " God prosper you, Judge Howell, in i>iii)iortioii as you are kind tuiiiy baby, whom 1 h:ivti called Mildrtd. ' '• Mildred!" repeated tho Judge, " Mil- a,ed l>e ■" Muiiiil not finish the sentence, for he seemed to hear far back in the past, a voice much like his own, saying aloud : *' I, Jacob, take thee, Mildred, to bo uiy wedded wife." The Mildred taken then in that shadowy old church had been for years a loving, faith- ful wife, and another Mildred, too, with ■tarry eyes and nut-l)rown eyes had ditted through his halls, calling him hor father. Tha MaMie wohian must surely have known of this when she gave her offspring the only name in the world which could posaibly have touched the Judge's heart. With a perplexed expression upon his face he stood, rubbing his hands together, while Bachel launched forth into a stream of baby talk, like that with which she was wont to edify her twelve young blackbirds. " For Heaven's sake stop that! You fairly turn my stomach," said the Judge, as she added the tiuiBhing touch by calling the child *'apesHU8 ^ttle darlin' dumpliu'l" "You women are precious big fools with babiesl" " Wasn't Miss Milly just as silly as any on ua ?" asked Rachel, who knew his weak point; "and if she was here to-night, in- stead of over Jordan, don't you believe she'd take the little critter aa her own ?" "That's nothing to do with it," returned the Judge. "The question is how shall we dispose of it — to-night, I mean, for in the morning I shall see about its beini; taken to the poor-house." ""The poor-house," repeated Rachel. "Ain't it writ on that paper, 'The Lord sarve you and yourn as you sarve her and hern ? ' Thar's a warnin' in that which I shall mind ef you don't. The baby ain't a-goin' to the poor- house, I'll take it myself first. A hen don't scratch no harder for thirteen than she dees for twelve, and though Jee ain't no kind o' count, I can manage somehow. Shall I con- sider it mine ? " " Yes, till morning," answered the Judge, who really had no detinite idea as to what he intended doing with the helpless creature thus forced upon him against bis will. He abhorred children — he would not for anything h'we one abiding in his house, and especially this one of so doubtful parentage ; still ho was not quite incline and have walked here from the depot. But Mrhat id tliatT" ho continued, na he oiitereil the sittiiic-room, and •wv the willow-biiak-t •tandini; noar the door. •'r)icK,"mnl the Judtfo's voice ilropped to a nervotis wliiHper~"I)iolt, if you'll brliovenie, •oine iuFurual M:iino woman lias had a baby, and left it on our atepb. ^She wrote rirst to know if I'd tako it, but the letter was two weeks coining. I didn't get it until tonight, and, as I sui)ih)8o she was tired of waiting, she brouj^ht it along ri^ht in the midatuf that thundur-showcr. She might have known I'd kick it into the street, just as I said I would— the trollop !" "Oh, father !" exclaimed tho more hu- mane young man, "you surely didn't treat tho innocent child so cnielly I'' "No, I didn't, though my will was good enough," answered the father. "Just think of the scandalous reports that are certain to follow. It will be just like that gossiping Widow Simnis to get up some confounded yarn, and involve us both, the wretch! But I shan't keep it — I shall send it tu the poor- house. " And, by way of adding emphasis to his words, he gave the basket a shove, which turned it bottom side up, and scattered over the floor sundry articles of baby-wear, which had before escaped his observation. Among these was a tiny pair of red mor- roooo shoes; for the " Maine woman," as he called her, had been thoughtful both for the present and future wants of her child. " Look, father," says Richard, taking them up and holding them to the light. "They are just like those sister Mildred used to wear. You know mother saved them, be- cause they were the Krfit ; and you have them still in your private drawer." Richard had touched a tender chord, and it vibrated at once, bringing to his father memories of a little soft, fat foot, which had once been encased in a slipper much like the one Richard held in his hand. The patter of that foot had ceased forever, and the soiled, worn shoe was now a sacred thing, even though the owner had grown up to beautiful womanhood ere her home was made deso- late. " Yes, Dick," he said, as he thought of all this. "It is like our dear Milly's, and what s a little myaterioua, the baby is called Mil- died, too. It was written on a bit of paper, and pinned upon the dress." " riien you will keep her, won't you? and Rjochwood will not be ao lonely," returned Hi.-'iii'd, continuing after a pause, " Where h ulic, this little lady t I am anxiouu lo pay her my respects." " Down with Rachel, just where she oucht ■> l.e/' said the Judge; aud Richard icjouivd, " Down with all those negroes T Oh, father, how could yi)U ! i>uppuae it were your chihl VMiul I you want it there ?" "The douce tako it — 'taint mine— there ain't a drop of Howell blood in its veins, the Lord knowa, and, as for my laying awake, feeding aweetuned milk to that Maine wo- man's brat, I won't do it, and that's theentl of it. I won't, I say— but I knew 'twould be just like you to want mo to keep it. You have the most unaccountable taste, and al- ways had. There isn't anotheryoung man of your expectations, who would ever have oared for thiit " "Father," aud Richard's hand was laid upon the Judge's arm. " Father, Hetty it dead, aud we will let her rest, but if she had lived I would havecUcd no other wo- man my wife." " And the moment you had callel her so, I would have disinherited you, root and branch," was the Judge's savage an.iwer. "I would have seen you and her and your chil* dren starve before I would have raised my hand. The heir of Beechwood marry Hetty Kirby! Why, her father was • blacksmith and her mother a factory cirl— do you heart" Richard made no reply, and, striking an* other light, he went to his chamber, where varied aud bitter thoughts kept him wakeful until the September sun shone upon the wall and told him it was morning. In the yard below he heard tho souna or Rachel's voice, and was reminded by it of the child left there the previous night. He would see it for himself, he said, and, making a hasty toilet, he walked leisurely down the well- worn path which led to the cottage door. The twelve were all awake, and, as he drew near, a novel sight presented itself to his view. In the rude pine cradle, the baby lay, while over it the elder Van Brunts were bending, engaged in a hot discussion as to which should have "the little white nigger for their own." At the approach of Richard their noisy clamour ceased, and they fell back reapectfully as he drew near the cradle. Richard Howell was exceedingly fond of children, and more than one of Rachel's dusky group had heboid upon his lau, hence it was, perhaps, that he parted so gently the silken rings of soft brown hair clustering around the baby's brow, smoothed the vel- vety cheek, and even kissed the parted lips. The touch awoke the child, who seemed in- tuitively to know that the face bending so near to its own was a friendly one, and, when Richard took it in his arms, it offered n ) rosist.ince, but ratlin • lovingly nestled its little lie.id upon his shoulder, as he wrapped itsbl.'iiikct carefully about it, and started for the housv. tkllLUliKD. CHAPTKR II. VIL.LAOIOOSBIP. Littlo MiKlru»\ ky in the willow banket, whole i{iolianl Hitw U hail placed la-r wlioa li« l)ruu>{iib her I'ro u tlie cabin. Jklwecu liiiuielf aud fathnr tliere had bcun a a|iiritud uoutroversy as to what shuuld be done with hut, thu oue iusititiiig that uhe should be sent til the pourdiouse, and the other that shu blkuuld stay at Hecchwood. The diauunnion luHtt.'d lone, and they were still linf;ering at tho breakfast tiblu, when Kaohel caino in,li«r api't'Ai't^uue indifatini< that she was the lit urcr of some important message. " If you pleaao," she began, addrossing hersulf to the Judge, " I've just been down to Cold Spring after a bucket o' water, fur I feel mighty like a strong cup of hyson this niurniii', beiu' I was so broRe of my rest, and the pump won't make such a cup a^ Cold Spring " " Never mind the pump, bub come to the point at ouco," interposed the Judge, glan- cing toward the basket with a presentiment tluit what she had to tell couoeruod the little Mildred. " Yes, that's what I'm coming to, ef I ever get thar. You see I ain't an atom gos- sipy, laut bein' that tho Thompson door was wideo^un, and looked iuvitin' like, I thought I'd go in a minit, and after iilliu' my bucket with water — though come to think on't, I ain't sure I had tilled it — had I T Let me 800—1 b'liove I had, though I ain't sure " RHchcl was extremely conscientious, and H" amount of coaxing could have tempted her to go on until she had settled it oatiii- facto>ily as to whether the bucket was tilled or not. This the Judge knew, and he Wiiitcd patiently until she decided that "the bucket v'cis fUli-il, or else it wasn't, one or t'other," any way, she left it on the grass, ■he said, and went into Thompson's, where •he found Aunt Hepsy " choppin' cabbage and snappin' at tho boy with the twisted feet, who was catching flies on the winder. " I didn't go in to tell 'em anything in Particular, but when Miss Hawkins, in the edroom, give a kind of lonesome Htthe, ^^llic)) I knew was for dead Bessy, I thouglit I'd speak of our baby that come last night in the basket ; so I told 'em how't you want- ed to send it to the poor-house, but I wouldn't let you, and was goin' to nuss it and fetch it up as my own, and then Miss Hawkins looked up kinder sorry-like, and says, ' Rather than suffer that, I'll take it in place of my little Bessy.' " You or'to of seen Aunt Flepsy then — but I didn't stay to hear her blow. I clipped it home as fast as ever I could, and left my bucket settin' by the spring." " So you'll liave no difficulty in ascertain- ing whether you filled it or not," ilylv ung- {[osted Richard. Then, turning to his father, 10 continued, "It Htrikes mo favourably, tins lotting Hannah Hawkins take the chiUl, inasmuch as y^ou are so nrejudiued against it. She will bo kind to it, I'm sure, and I shall go down to see her at once." There was something so cool and deter* mined in Richard's manner, that the Judge gave up the contest without another word, and silently watched his son as he hurried along the beaten path which led to the Cold Spring. Down the hill, and where its gable roof was just di^iccrniblo from tho windows of the Ituechwood mansion, stood the low, browD house, which, for many years, had been tenanted by Hezekiah Thompson, and which, after Ins decease, was still 0RCUi)ied by Hepsabah, his wife. Only one child had been given to Hepsabah~a gentle, blue-eyed tlau^hter, who, after six years of happy wife* hood, returned to her mother — a widow, with two little fatherless children — one a lame, unfortunato boy, and the other • beautiful little girl. Toward the boy with the twisted feet, Aunt Huj)8y, as she was called, looked askance, while all the kinder I feelings of her nature seemed called into being by the sweet, yrinning ways of the baby Bessy; but when one bright September day they laid tho little one away beneath the autumnal grass, and canio back to their home without her, she steeled her heart •igainst the entire world, and the wretched Hannah wept on her lonely pillow, un- cheered by a single word of comfort, save those her little Oliver breathed into her ear. Just one week Bossy had lain beneath the maples when Rachel bore to the cottage news of the strange child loft at the masters door, and instantly Hannah's heart yearned to* ward the helpless infant, which she offered to take for her own. At first her mother op* posed the plan, but when she saw how de* termiued Hannah was, she gave it up, and in a most unamiabld frame of mind was clearing her breakfast dishes away, when Richard Howell appeared, asking to see Mrs. Haw* kins. Although a few years older than him* self, Hannah Thompson had been one of Richard's earliest playmates and warmest friends. He know her disposition well, and knew she could be trusted ; and when she promised to love the little waif, whose very helplessness had interested him in its behalf, he felt sure that she would keep her word. Half an hour later and Mildred lay sleep- ing in Bessy's cradle, as calmly as if she were not tho subject of the moat wonderful surmises and ridiculous conjectures. On the w ings of the wind tho story tlew that a baby had been left ou Judge Howell's steps — that ^ ■' VIl.LAiJE Clu: IP saT9 Weep- fif she lerful |ath« I baby -that tlio •Tiii1;{(' had swiH'ii it Mhuulil he sfiit ro the pnor-hoiiMt!-, while i\\v nou, who uuiuc Imiituiit tWflve oVh'ck at iiiulit, oitvt rt-d witli iiiud and wut to ihu Hkiit. had cvincud fur inoro iiituK'Ht in thu hI ranger tlian wuh at all coMiiuisudablc fur a huy Bcvrculy out of liis tCltUM. *' Ihit there was no telljn' what young buekH would do, or old oiieu t itiier, for that mutter!" «o at loast paid V^ idow SinmiH, the Judgo'n hu^^hoar, as she donned her Hhaker and piilin l«af Hlmwl, and hurried acroM the i\Ai\» in the direetioii of f'ee'iiwood, feeling gruatly ndievoil to lind that the object of her aeareh wan farther down the hill, for she stood poniowhnt in awo of the Judge, and his proud son. Hut onue in Hannah Hawkins' Dedrooin, with her shaker nn the tloor and the baby on her lap, her tongue was loos- ened, and Bcarcidy a persen in the town who could by any nos^iblo means have been at all connoctod witli the affair, escaped a malici- ous cut. The infant was then minutely examined, and pronounced the very image of the Judge, or of Cajjtain Harrington, or of Dcaooa Snyder, she could not tell which. "But I'm bonnd to find out," she said; "I •ha'n't rest easy nights till I do." Then suddenly remembering that a kindred spirit, Polly Dntton, who lived some distance away, had probably not yet heard the news, she fastened her pabn-lenf shawl with her broken-headed darning-neet his face so firmly against it, swearing heartily if its name were mentioned in his presence, and even threaten- ing to prosecute the Widow Simms if she ever a-^ain prosiimed to say that the brat resem- bled hini or his. With a look of proud disdain upon his handsome, bi)yish face, Richard, who on account of big delicate health had not return- ed to college, heard from time to time what i\\« gosfipini; villn^crs had toilay of himrell and wlieii at biHt it was told to him that h WiiH ex<>nn(li:ted \\ liat the n «ult woiiM be. Wire hin interest in the laby tit continue until nhe were grown twonianhood, be burnt into a mtviry laugh, the tirst which had eHoaped him siuue ho caniu back to Bee(di\*(»od. "Stranger thingH than that had happened," Widow Simms declared, and she held many a whispered conference w itii Hannah Haw- kins as to the future, when .Mildred would be the unstress of Heeehwood, uulfss, indeed, Pichurd died before she were grown, an event which seemed not improbuble, for as the autumn days wore on and thu winter advanced, his failing streiiuth became mure and mure perceptible, and the same uld ladies, who once before had taki^n his case into consideration, now looked at him through medical eyes, and pronounced him just guue with consumption. Nothing but a soa voyage would save him, the physician said, and that to a warm, balmy climate. So when the spring came, he engaged a berth on board a vessel bound for the South Sea Islands, and after a pil- grimage to the obscure New Hamntthirc t<»wn where Hetty Kirby was buried, he came back to Reechwood one April night to bid his father adieu. It was a stormy farewell, for loud, angry words were heard issuing from the library, and Rachel, who played the part of eaves- dropper, testified to hearing Richard say : "Listen to me, father, I have not tohl you all." To which the Judge reai.onde.1, "I'll stop my ears before I'll hoar another word. You've told me enough alr<'ady ; and, from this hour, you are no son of mine. Leave me at once, and my curse go with you." With a taco as white as marble, Richard answered, " I'll go, father, and it may be wo shall never meet again ; but, in the lonesome years to come, when you are old and sick, and there is none to love you, you'll remember what you've said to me to- night." The Judge made no rejily, and without another word Richard turned away. Hasten- ing down the Cold Spring' ]iath. he entered the gable-roofed cottage, but what passed between himself and Hannah Hawkins no one knew, though all fancied it concerned the beautiful baby Mildred, who had grown strangely into the love of the young man, and who now, as he took her from her crib, put her arms around his neck, and rubbed her face against his uwn. "Be kind to her, Hannah," he said. •' There are none but ourselves to care for her now ;" and laying her back in her cradle, h* 10 MILDRED. kissed her lipb .. . hastened away, while Hanuah looked 'ully after him, wouder- ing muoh what the eud would b«. ; I u m^r CHAPTER IIL KINE YEABS LATER. Nine times the April flowers had blossomed and decayed ; nine times the summer fruits h%d ripened and the golden harvest been gathered in ; nine years of change had come and gone, and up the wooded avenue which led to Judge Howell's residence, and also to the gable-roofed cottage, lower down the hill, two children, a boy and a girl, were slowly wending their way. The day was calm and bright, and the grass was as fresh and green as when the summer rains were falling upon it, while the birds were unsing of their nests in their far off south bid, whither ere long they would go. But n*. of Jie birds, nor the grass, nor the day, was the little girl thinking, and she did not even stop to steal a flower or a stem of box from the handsome grounds of the cross old man, who many a time had screamed to her from adistance, bidding her quit her childish depredations ; neither did she pay the least at- tention to the old decrepit Tiger, as he trotted slowly down to meet her, licking her bare feet and looking wistfully into her face as if he would ask the cause of her unwonted sad- ness. " Come this way, Clubs," she said to her companion, as they reached a point where two paths diverged from the main road, one leading to the gable-roof, and the other to the brink of n rushing stream, which was sometimes dignified with the name of river. "Come down to our play-house, where we can be alone, while I tell you something dreadful" Clu's, as he was called, from his twisted feet, obeyed, and, in a few moments, they sat upon a mossy bank beneath the syca- more, where an humble playhouse had been built — a playhouse seldom enjoyed, for the life of that little girl was not a free and easy one. "Now, Milly, let's have it;" and the boy Clubs looked inquiringly at her. Bursting into tears she hid her face in his lap and sobbed : "Tell me true— true as you live and breathe— ain't I your sister Milly, and if I ain't, who am I ? Ain't I anybody ? Did I rain down as Maria Stevens said I did ?" A troubled, perplexed expression fitted over the palo face of the boy, who awkward- ly smoothing the brown head resting on his patched pantaloons, he answered : " Who told you that story, Milly ; I hoped it would be long before you heard it !" "Then 'tis true, — 'tis true; and that's why grandma scolds mc so, and gives me such stinchin' pieces of cake, and not half as much bread and milk as I can cat. Oh, dear, oh, dear — ain't there anybody any- where that owns me? Ain't I anybody's little girl?" and the poor child sobbed pas- sionately. It had come to her that day, for the first time, that she was not Mildred Hawkins, as she had supposed herself to be, auk what view a Imother saved lildred' bobbing head upon her scanty pillow, she watched him as he applied himself diligently to her task. He was not a handsome boy; he was too pale — too thin — too old -looking for that, but to Mildred, who knew how good he was, he seemed perfectly beautiful, sitting there in the fading sunlight and working so hard for her. "Clubs," she said, "you are the dearest boy in all the world, and if I ever find out who I am and happen to be rich, you shall share with me. I'll give you more than half. I wish I could do something for you now, to show how n-uch I love you." The needles were suspended for a moment, while the boy looked through the window far off on the distant hills where the sunlight still was sliining. "I guess I shall be dead then," he said, " but there's one thing you could do now, if you would. I don't mind it in other folks, but somehow it always hurts me when you call me Clubs. I can't help my bad-shaped feet, and I don't cry about it as I used to do, Dor pray that God would turn tliem back again, for I know He won't. I must walk backwards all my life, but, when I get to Heaven, there won't be any bad boys there to plague me and call me Heel-foot or Cluha ! Mother never did; and almost the first thing I remember of her she was kissing my poor crippled feet and dropping tears upon them t" Mildred forgot to eat her berry pie; forgot her aching head — forgot everything in ner desire to comfort the boy, who, for the first time in his life, had, in her presence, mur- mured at his misfortune. " I'll never call you Clubs again," she ■aid, folding her arms around his neck. " I love your crooked feet ; I love every speck of you, Oliver, and, if I could, I'd give you my feet, though they ain't much handsomer than yours, they are so big !" and she stuck up a short, fat foot, which, to Oliver, Beemed the prettiest he had ever seen. *^No, Milly," he said, "I'd rather be the deformed one. I want you to grow up handsome, as I most know you will 1" and, resuming his task, he looked proudly at the bright little face, which bade fair to be wondrously beautiful. Mildred did not like to work if she ceuld help ic, and, climbing upon the bed, she lay there while Oliver stitched on industriously. But her thoughts were very busy, for she was thinking of the mysterious Richard, wondering if he was really dead, and if he ever had thought of her when afar on the Southern seas. Then, as she remembered having heard that his portrait hung in the drawing-room at Beech wood, she felt a strong desire to see it ; and why couldn't she ? Wasn't she going up there, some day, to ask the Judge if he were not her father? Yes, she was ! and so she said again to Oliver, telling him how she meant to oe real smart for ever so long, till his grandmother was good-natured and would let her go. 81ie would wear her best calico gown and dimity pantalets, while Oliver snould carry his Grandfather's cane, by way of imitating the udge, who might thus be more impressed with a sense of his greatness. Although he lived so near, Oliver had never had more than a passing glance of the inside of the great house on the hill, and now that the first surprise was over, he began to feel a pleasing interest in the idea of entering its spacious halls with Mildred. They would go some day, he said, and he tried to frame a good excuse to give tlie Judge, who might be inclined to let them in. Mildred, on the contrary, took no forethought as to what she must euy ; her M'its always came when needed, and, while Oliver was thinking, she fell away to sleep, resting so quietly that she did not hear him go below for the bit of tallow candle necessary to complete his task ; neither did she see him when his work was done, bend over her as she slept. Very gently he arranged her pillow, pushed back the hair which had fallen over her eyes, and then, treading softly on his poor warped feet, he left her room and sought his own, where his grandmother found him sleeping, when at nine o'clock she came home from Widow Simms's. Mildred's chamber was visited next, the old lady started back in much surprise, when, instead of the little figure bending over her bench, she saw tlie shoes ail finished and put away, while Mildred, too, was sleeping — her lips and hands stained with the berry pie, a part of which lay upon the chair. "It's Oliver's doings," old Hepsy mutter- ed, while thoughts of his crippled feet rose up in time to prevent an explosion of her wrath. She could maltreat little Mildred, who had no mar or blemish about her, but she could not abuse a deformed boy, and she went si- lently down the stairs, leaving Oliver to his dreams of Heaven, where there were no crippled boys, and Mildred to her dreams of Richard, and the time when she would go to Beechwood, and claim Judge Howell for her sire. CHAPTER IV. OLIVBR AND MILDRED VISIT BEECMWOOD. Mildred still adhered to her resolution of being amart, as she termed it, and had suc- ceeded so far in pleasing Mrs. Thompson tlL-it the old lady reluctantly souseated to giving 14 MILDRED. her a hilf holiday, and letting hor go with Oliver to ReechwooJoiie Saturday afternooti. At first Oliver objected to accompanying her, for he conld not orercome his dread of the cross Judi^e, who, having conceived a dislike for Mildred, extended that dislike oven to the inoffensive Oliver, always frowning wrathfuUy at him, and aeldoin speaking to liim a civil word. Tha girl Mildred the Judge had only seen at a aisiM^oe, for he never went near the gable-roof, and as he read his prayers at St. Luke's, while Hepsy screamed liera at the Methodist chape], there was no chance of his meeting her at church. Neither did he wish to see her, for po many stories had been fabricated concerning himself and thelit- tlegirl, that he professed tohate thesoundof her name. He knew her figure, though, and never didshe pass down the avenue,andoutintothe highway, on the road to school, but ho saw her from his window, watching her until out if sight, and wondering to himself who she *vas, and why that Maine woman had let her alone so long 1 It was just the same when fhe came back at ni<{ht. Judge Howell knew almost to a minute when the blue pasteboard bonnet and spotted calico droRs would enter the gate, and hence it was that juat so sure as she stopped to pick a flower or stem of box (a thing she seldom failed to do), just so sure was ho to sct';am at the top of his voice : "Quit that, you trollon, anil be cL, I say." Once she had answered back ; •' Vow, yow, yow t who's afraid of you, old cross-patch ! " while through the dusky twilight he had discerned the Nourish of a tiny tist ! Nothing pleased the Judge more than ijrll, as he called it, and shaking his portly sides, he returned to the house, leaving the auda- cious child to gather as many flowers as she pleased. In spite of his professed aversion, there was, for the judge, a strange fascina- tion about the little Mildred, who, on one Saturday afternoon, was getting herself in Tcadiness to visit him in his fortress. Great Dains she took with her soft, brown hair, brushing it until her arm ached with the ex- ercise, and then smoothing it with her hands intil it shone like glass. Aunt Hepsy Thompson was very neat in her household •rrangements, and the calico dress which Mildred wore was free from the least taint of dirt, as w«re the dimity pantalets, the child's especial pride. A sting of blue wax beads was suspended from her iieck, and when her little straw bonnet was tied on, her toilet was complete. Oliver, too, entering into her spirit, had spent far more time than usual before the cracked lookiug-glass which hung upon the the wall ; but he was ready at last, and id* S'led forth, equipped in his best, even to the cane which Mildred had purloined from its hiding-place, and which she kept concealed until Reply's back waa turned, when she adroitly slipped it into his hand and hurried him away. It was a lazy October day, and here and there a gay-coloured leaf was dropping silently from the trees, which grew around Beechwood. In the garden through which the children passed, for the sake of coming first to Rachel's cabin, many bright aHtnmnu flowers were in blossom ; but for once Mil- dred's fingers left them untouched. She was too intent upon the house, which, with its numerous chimneys, balconies, and win- dows, seemed to frown gloomily down upon her. *' What shall you say to the Judge t" Oli- ver asked, and Mildred answered : " I don't know what I shall say, but if he aassea me, it's pretty likely I shall toM him back." Just then Rachel appeared in the door, and, spying the two children as they came through the garden-gate, she shaded her eyes with her tawny hand to be sure she saw aright. "Yes, 'tis Mildred Hawkins," she said; and she cast a furtive glance backward through the wide hall, toward the sitting- room, where the Judge sat dozing in his wil- low chair. " Was it this door, under these steps, that I was left?" asked Mildred in a whisper, but before Oliver could reply, Rachel had ad* vanced to meet them. Mildred was not afraid of her, for the good-natured negress had been kind to her in various ways, and, going boldly forward, she said: " I've come to see Judge HowelL Is he at home?" Rachel looked aghast, and Mildred, think- ing she would not state her principal reason for wishing to see him, continued, *' I want to see the basket I was brought here in and everything." "Do you know then? Who told you?" and Rachel looked inquiringly at Oliver, who answered: •' Yes, she knows. They told her at school. " The fact that she knew gave her, in Ra- chel's estimation, some right to come, and, motioning her to be very cautious, she said: "The basket is up in the garret. Come still, so as not to wake up the Judtje," and taking off her own shoes by way of example, she led the way through the hall, followed by Oliver and Mildred, the latter of whom could not forbear pausing to look in at the room where the Judge sat unconsciously nodding ather. ^1*^ OI-IVER AND MILDllED VISIT BEECH WOOD 15 last, and ia- , even to the aed from its )t concealed 1, when she and hurried id here and ,8 dropping ;rew around ough which e of cominsr ;ht aHtumniu or once Mil- uched. She which, with ss, and win- f down upon Fudge t^Oli- d: ay, but if lie hall icus him red in the ro children [en-gate, she hand to be ** she said} e backward the sitting- i;; in his wil- je steps, that whisper,but [lel had ad< ler, for the kind to her lly forward, elL Is heat dred, think* ipal reason Bcl, " I want here in and told you?" t Oliver, who hey told her her, in Ra- ceme, and, us, she said: Come still, ' and takins iple, she led etl by Oliver m could not room where ding ather. ^1^ "Come away," whispered Oliver, but Mildred would not move, and she stood gaz- ing at the Judge as if he had bceu a caged lion. Just then finis, who, being really the last and youngest, was a spoiled child, yelled lustily for his mother. It was hazardous not to go at his bidding, ami, telling the children to stand still till she returned, Rachel hur- I ied away. " Now then," said Mildred, spying the drawing-room door ajar, "we'll have a good time by ourselves," and, taking Oliver's hand, she walked boldly into the parlour, whore the family portraits were hanging. At first her eye was perfectly dazzled with the elccance of which she bad never dreamed, but, as she became somewhat accustomed to it, she began to look about and make her ob- servations. "Isn't this glorious, though I Wouldn't I like to live here I" and she set her little foot hard down upon the velvet carpet. "Good afternoon ma'am," said Oliver in his meekest tone, and Mildred turned just in time to see him bow to what he fancied to be a beautiful young lady smiling down upon them from a gilded frame. *' The portraits I the portraits I" she cried, clapping her hands together, and in an instant she stood face to face with Mildred Howell, of the " starry eyes and nut-brown hair." But why should that picture affect little Mildred so strangely, causing her to hold her breath and gaze up at it with childish awe. It was very, very beautiful, and hundreds had admired its girlish loveliness ; but to Mildred it brought another feeling than that of admiration — a feelim; as if that face had looked at her many a time from the old, cracked glass at home. "Oliver," she said, " what is it about the lady ? Who is she like, or where have I seen her before t" Oliver was quite as perplexed as herself ; for the features of Mildred Howell seemed familiar even to him. He had somewhere seen their semblance, but he did not think of looking for it in the little girl, whose face grew each moment more and more like the one upon the canvas. And not like that alone, but also like the portrait beyond— the portrait of Richard Howell. Mildred had not noticed tliis yet, though the mild, dark eyes seemed watching her every moment, just as another pair of living eyes were watching her from the door. Mildred's scream of joy had penetrated to the ears of the sleeping Judge, rousing him from his after-diimer nap, and causing him to listen again for the voice which sounded like an echo fr()na the past. The cry was not epeatfcd, but through the open door he heard distinctly the childish voice, and shaking off his drowsiness he started to see who the intruders could be. Judge Howell did not believe in the supernatural. Indeed, he scarcely believed in anything, but when he first caught sight of Mildred's deep, brown eyes, and spaikhng face, a strange feeling of awe crept over him, for it seemed as if his only daughter had stepped suddenly from the canvas, and going backward, for a few years, had come up be- fore him the same little child, whose merry laugh and winsome ways had once made the sunlieht of his home. The next instant, how- ever, nis eyes fell upon Oliver, and then he knew who it was. His first impulse was to scream lustily at the intruder, bidding her begone, but there was something in the ex- pression of her face which kept him silent, and he stood watching her curiously, as, with eyes upturned, lips apart, and hands clasped nervously together, she stood gazing at his daughter, and asking her companion who the lady was like. Oliver could not tell, but to' the Judge's lips the answer sprang, " She's like you." Then, as he rememSered that others had thought the same, his wrath began to rise ; for nothing had ever so offended nirn as hearing people say that Mildred Hawkins resembled nim or his. "Yon minx!" he suddenly exclaimed, advancing into the room, "what are you doing here and who are yon, hey T" Oliver coloured painfully, and looked about for some safe hiding-place, while Mildred, poising her head a little on one side, unflinch- ingly replied : "1 am Mildred. Who be you ?" "Did I ever hear such impudence?** muttered the Judge, and striding up to the child, he continued, in his loudest tone% "Who in thunder do you think I am ?" Veiy calmly Mildred looked him in the face and deliberately replied : "I think you are myjather; anyway, I've come up to ask if you ain't." "Good heavens I" and the Judge involun- tarily raised his hand to smite the audacious Mildred, but before the blow descended his eyes met those of Richard, and though it was a picture he looked at, there was something in that picture which stayed the act, and his hand came down very gently upon the soft brown hair of the child who was so like both son and daughter. "Say," persisted Mildred, emboldened by by this very perceptible change in his de- meanour, "be you njyfather,and if you ain't, who is ? Is he /" And she pointed toward Richard, whose mild, dark eyes seemed to Oliver to smile approvingly upon her. Never before in his life had the Judge been 16 '! ''I ,/ I MILT>1?ED. • r^/ I /f ;0 ,: I 80 uncertain ns to whether it were proper to Stioltl or laugh. Tho idea of that little girl's coining up to Bcecliwoud, anil claiming him for her father was perfectly preposterous, and yet in spite of himself there was about her 8omethiuj4 he could not resist, — she seemed near to him, — so near that for one brief in- stant the thought flitted across his brain that he would keep her there with him, and not let her go back to the gable-roof where ru- mour said she was far from being happy. Then as he remembered all that had been said, and how his adopting her would give rise to greater scandal, he steeled his heart against her and replied, in answer to her question, " You haven t any father, and never had. Your mother was a good-for- nothing jade from Maine, who left you here because she knew I had money, and she thought maybe I'd keep you and make you my heir. But she was crandly mistaken. I Bent you oS then and I'fl send you off again, 80 begone, you baggage, and don't let me catch you stealing any. mora flowers, or call- ing me names, either, such as ' old cross- patch.* I ain't deaf : I heard you." •' You called me names first, and you are a heap older than I am," Mildred answered, moving reluctantly toward the door, and coming to a firm stand as she reached the threshhold. "What are yon waiting for?" asked the Judge, and Mildred replied, "I ain't in any hurry, and I shan't go until I see that basket 1 was brought here in. " "The plague yon won't," returned the Judge, now growing really angry. " We'll see who's master ;" and taking her by the Bboulder, he led her through the hall, dQW» the steps, and out into the open air, followed by Oliver, who having expected some such ^snouement, was -^^t greatly disappointed. "' Let's go back," ho aaid, as he saw indications of what he called "one of Miily's tantrums." But Milly would not stir until she had given vent to her wrath, looking and acting exactly like the Judge, who, from an upper window, was watching her with mingled feelings of lynusement and admiration. " She's spunky, and no mistake," he thought, " but I'll be hanged if I don't like the spitfire, ^^^lere the plague did she get those eyes, and that mouth so much like Mildred and Richard ? She bears herself proudly, too, I will confess," he continued, as he saw her at hist cross the yard and join Rachel, who, having found him in the parlour when tthe came back from quieting Finn, had stolen away unoljserved. Twi the Judge turned from the window, and as often went back again, watching Mil- dred, as she passed slowly through the gar- deu, and half wishing she would gather Bonte ot his choicest flowers, so that he could * call after her and see again the angry flash • of her (lark eyes. But Mildred did not meddle with the flowers, and when her little .. straw bonnet disappeared from view, the | Judge be(;an to pace the floor, wondering at the feeling of loneliness which op})re8sod him, and the voice M'hich whispered that he had turned from his door a second time the child who had a right to a place by his hearthstone and a place in his heart, even though he were not her father. CHAPTER V. LAWKBITCE THOKNTON AND HIS ADVIOB. The fact that Mildred had dared go up to Beechwood and claim Judge Howell as her father, did not tend in the least to im- prove her situation, for regarding it as proof that she would, if she could, abandon the gable-roof. Aunt Hepsy became more uu« amiable than ever, keeping the child from school, and imposing upon her tasks which ' never could have been iierforined but for Oliver's assistance. Deep and dark wer« ■ the waters through which Mildred was pa88> . ing now, and in the coming tuture she saw no ray of hope, but behind that heavy cloud the sun was shining bright and only a little way beyond, the pastures lay all green and fair. But no such thoughts as these intruded '. themselves upon her mind on the Sabbath i afternoon when, weary and dejected, she ' stole from the house, unobserved even by i Oliver, and wended her way to the river' bank. It was a warm ^November day, and o seatins herself upon the withered grass ; beneatn the sycamore, she watched the faded j leaves as they dropped into the stream and floated silently away. In the quiet Sabbath : hush there was something very soothing to ; her irritated nerves, and she ere long fell asleep, resting her head upon the twisted roots, which made almost as soft a pillow as the scanty one of hens' feathers on which she was accustomed to repusa She had not lain there long when a foot- step broke the stillness, and a boy, appar< ently about fourteen or fifteen years of age, drew near, pausing suddenly as his eye fell upon the sleeping child. " Belongs to some one of tho Judge's poor tenants, I dare say," he said to himself, glancing at her humble dress, and he was about pasainj' lier l)y, when someihing in her face attracted his attention, and ke stopped for a nearer view. " V\ho is she like?" he said, and he ran over in his mind a list of his city friends, but among them all there was no face like this oue. "Where have I seen her?" he con* ii LAWRENCE THORNTON AND HIS ADVICR 17 I gather he uould gry flash did uot her little iew, the derin^ at isod htm, he bad the child irthstoue luugh h« .DVIOB. go up to [1 as her t to iin- ; as proof bodon the aore im> hild from iks which L but for ark vfrere was pass- e she Bar/ avy cloud ly a little jreeu and intruded Sabbath ited, she even by he river day, and d grass he faded earn and Sabbath thing to long fell twisted illow aa hich she a f oot- I, appar- [s of age, eye fell je's poor himself, he was ig in her stopped he ran [nds, but like this hfl cou" ^.H I tinned, and determining not to leave the spot until the mystery was solvcil, ho sat down upon a stone near Ity. " She sletjps Inng; she must be tired," he said at last, as the sun drew nearer to the western horizon, and there were still no signs of wakinsr. '♦ I know she's mighty uncomfortable with her neck on that sharj) i)<)int," he continued, and drawing near he substituted himself for the pnarled roots which had hitherto been Mil- dred's pillow. Something the little girl said in her sleep of Oliver, whom she evidently fancied was with her, and then her brown head nestled down in the lap of the handsome boy, who smoothed her hair gently, while he wondered more and more whom she was like. Sud- denly it came to him, and he started so quickly that Mildred awoke, and with a cry of alarm at the sight of an entire stranger, sprang to her feet as if she would run away. But the boy held her back, saying pleasant- ly : " Not so fast, my little lady. I haven't held you till my arms ache for nothing. Come here and tell me who you are." His voice and manner both were winning, disarming Mildred of all fear, and sitting duwn, as he bade her do, she answered: " 1 am Mildred— and that's all." "Mildred — and that's all!" he repeated. *' You surely have some other name! Who ifl your fatlier ? " "I never had any, Judge Howell says, and my mother put me in a basket, and left me up at Beech wood, ever so long ago. It thundered and lightened awfully, and I wish the thunder had killed me before I was as tired and sorry as I am now. There's nobody to love mo anywhere but Richard and Oliver, and Richard, I guess, is dead, while Oliver has crippled feet, and if he grows to be a fman he can't earn enough for me and him, and I'll have to stay with grand- mother till I die. Oh, I wish it could be now ; and I've held my breath a lot of times to see if I couldn't stop breathing, but I always choke and como to life 1 " All the boy's curiosity was roused. He had heard before of the infant left at Judge Howell's, and he knew now that she sat there before him — a much-abused, neglected child, with that strange look upon her face which puzzled him just as it had many an older person. "Poor little girl," he said. "Where do you live, and who takes care of you ? Tell me all about it;" and adroitly leading her on, he learned the whole story of her life — how since tie woman diod she once thouorht was her motlior slio had scarely known a happy day. OM Hcpey was so cross, put- Vug upon her harder tasks than she could well perform— beating her often, and tyran- nizing over her in a thousand dillerent ways. " I used to think it was bad enough when I thought she was related," said Mildred, "but now I know she hain't no rij^ht, it seems a hundred times worse — and I don't know what to do." "I'd run away," suggested the boy ; and Mildred replied : "Run where? I was never three miles from this place in my life." " Run to Boston," returned the boy. "That's where I live. Cousin Geraldine wants a waiting-maid, and though she'd be mighty overbearing, father would be good, I guess, and so would Lilian — she's just about your size." " Who is Lilian ?" Mildred asked, and '^e replied : " I call her cousin, though she isn't at all related. Father's sister Mary married Mi-. Veille, and died when Geraldine was born. Ever so many years after uncle married again and had Lilian, but neither he nor his second wife lived long, and as father was appointed guardian for Geraldine and Lilian, they have lived with us ever since. Geraldine is proud, but Lilian is a pretty little thing. You'll like her if you come." "Should you be there?" Mildred asked, much more interested in the handsome boy than ia Lilian Veille. " I shall be there till I go to college," re- turned the boy ; " but Geraldine wouldn't let you have much to say to me, she's so stuck up, and feels so big. The boys at school told me once that she meant I should marry Lilian, but I sho'n't if I don't want to." Mildred did not answer immediately, but sat thinking intently, with her dark eyes fixed upon the stream running at her feet. Something in her attitude reminded the boy a second time of the resemblance which had at first so impressed him, and turning her face more fully toward him, he said : " Do you know that you look exactly as my mother did?" Mildred started eagerly. Theoldburningde- sire toknow whoshewas, or whence she came, was awakened, and grasping the boy's hand, she said : " Maybe you're my brother, then. Oh, I wish you was ! Como down to the brook, where the sun shines ; we can see our faces there and know if we look alike." She had grasped his arm and w.ts trying to draw him forward, when ho dashed oil he? newly-formed hopes by saying : " It is my step-mother you icspml'le; sha that was the famous beaut}', jNliMrud Huw- ell." "That pretty lady in the frime ?" say II MiLnr.KD. U I r^ i ■ft MiMretl, rather baiUy. '* Widow Siinms says 1 look like }ior, Aiul was bhe your mother?" " She was f.ither's rccoikI wifi-," returned the boy, "and 1 am Lawreuco Tlioraton, of HostoM." Seeing that the name " Lawrence Thorn- ton," did not impress the little girl as lio fancied it woniil, the boy proceeded to ^'wv Ui V an (intliiio iiiatory of himself and family, ^vlaL:ll last, he said, was uno of the oldest, and riulicst, and moist aristocratic in the city. "Have you any sisters?" Mildred asked, and Lawrence replied : " I had a sister once, a good deal older than I am. I don't remember her much, for when I was Hve years old— that's ten years atro, — she ran off with her music teacher, Mr. Harding, and never came back again : and about a year later, we heard that she was dead, and that there was a girl- baby that died with her '' *' Yes ; but what of the beautiful lady, your mother?" chimed in Mildred, far more interested iu Mildred Howell than in the baby reported to have died with Lawrence's sister Helen. Lawrence Thornton did not koow that the far-famed "starry eyes" of sweet Mildred Howell had wept bitter tears ere she consent- ed to do her father's bidding and wed a man many years her senior, and whoso oidy daughter was exactly her own age ; neitlier did he know how from the day she wore her bridal roi»e3, looking a very queen, she had commenced to fade— for Autumn and May did not go well together, even though the former were gilded all over with gold. He only had a faint remembrance that she was to him a playmate rather than a mother, and that she seemed to love to have him kiss her and caress her fair round cheek far better than his father. So he told this- last to Mil- dred, and told her, too, how his father and Judge Howell both had cried when they stood together by her coffin. "And Richard," said Mildred,— " was Richard there?" Lawrence did not know, for he was scarce- ly four years old when his stepmother died. " But I have seen Richard Howell," he said ; "1 saw him just before he went away. He came to Boston to see Cousin Geraldine, I guess, for I've heard since that Juilge Howell wanted him to marry her when she got big enough. She was only thirteen then, but that's a way the lluwells and Thorntons have of marrying frlksa great deal older than tliemselvts. You don't catch me at any such thing, though. Huw old are you, Mildred ?" LiiwriMice Thornton hadn't tlie slii/htest '^ijtivo in diking tiii3 (iuestiiui, neitlici .lia he wait to have itanswercTl; for, observing that the sun was really getting very low in the heavens, he arose, and. telling Mildred that dinner wonUl be waiting for him at Hccchwood, whcio he was now spending a few days, ho bade her good-bye, and walketl rapidly away. As far as she could see him Mildred fol- lowed him with her tyos, and when, at last, a turn in the wiiidii'g path hid him from her view, she resumed hor scat upon the twisted roots and cried, for the world to her was doubly desolate now that he was g(»ne. "lie was so bright, ho handsome," she s.iid, "and he looked so sorry like wiiec ho said 'poor little Milly !' Oh, I wish he would stay with me always !" , Then she remembered what he had said to her of going to Boston, and she resolved tliat when next old Hepsy's treatment became harsher thanshe could bear, sJio would surely follow his advice and run away to Boston, perhaps, and be waiting-maid to Miss Geral- (lino Veille. She had no idea what thd duties of waiting-maid were, but no situation could be worse than her present one, and then Lawrence would be there a portion of time at least. Y''es, she would certainly run away, she said; nor was it very long ere she hail an opportunity of carrying her resolu- I tion into effect, for as the weather grew colder, Hcpsy, who was troubleil with rhen- matisin and corns, became intolerably cross and one day punished Mildred for a slight offence far more severely than she had ever done before. " I can't stay— I won't stay — I'll go this very night !" thought Mildred, as blow after blow fell upon her uncoveied neck and arms. Then as her eye fell upon the white-faced Oliver, who apparently suffered more than herself, she felt a moment's indecision. Oliver would miss her— Oliver would cry when he found that she was gone, but Law- renco Thornton would get him a place as chore boy somewhere near her, and then they would bo so happy in the great city, where Hepsy's tongue could net reach them. She did not think that money would be needed to carry her to fJoston, for she had been kept so close at home that she knew little of the world, and she fancied that she had only to steal away to the depot un- observed.and the rest' would follow, as a matter of course. The conductor would take her when she told him of Hepsy, .is siu^ meant to do, and once in the city any- b'i^sy would tell her wLore Lawrenre Tin. n. ton lived. Tliis being satisfactorily sell led, her next step was to |)in up iu a C(-ttoti haij'iUcicliicf, her lics^ calico dress ana pa.'daltts, for,it the Lady Geraldiue Were WIT AT CAME OP IT. It )l)8crving ^ low in Mildred r him at sending ft d walke«l l.lrcd fol* n, at last, from her \e twisted her waa one. me," »he e when ho wish bo A. lad said to lolvcd that it became •uld surely to Boston, liss Geral-. (V'hat thd iO situation it one, and 1 portion of rtainly ruo oiig ere she her resolu- ather grow [ with rheu- brubly cross [for a slight le had ever -I'll fio this Mow after ueck and white- faced more than indecision. would cry B, but Law- a place as ', and then great city, reach them. would be or she had she knew eil that she depot uii- [follow, as a tor would If Hcpay, as ]ie city any- Lawreiue ktisfactonly |piu up iu a allco drcsa aldiue were i 1 i I pvoud as liawrcnce 'I'hornton had said, she I would \v:uit I'or waiting-maid to look as smart as pon ibio. Accordiii'^ly tlio faded frock and dimity pantalets, whioli had not been worn since the meniorablo visit tO Beechwood, were made into a buntlle, Mildred thinking the while how sha would put it on in the woods, where tlicrc was no danger of being detected by old Hepay, who was screaming for her to oome down and till the kettle. "It's the last time I shall do it," thoucht Mi hi red, as she descended the stairs and be- gan to make her usual preparation for the suptjer, and the little girl s step was lighter i«c the prospect of her release from bondage. But every time she looked at Oliver, who was suffering from a sick headache, the tears came to her eyes, and she was nre than oiioe tempted to give up her wild project of running away. " Dear Oliver," she tihispered, when at last the supper was over, the dishes washed, and the floor swept, and it was almost time for her to go. ''Dear Oliver," and goinff over to where he sat, she pressed her hand upon his throbbing templen — "you are the dearest kindest brother that ever was born, and you iiui:t remember how much I love you, if anything should happen." Oliver did not hear the last part of her re- ma-^k. he only knew ho liked to have her warm band on his forehead, it made him feel better, and, placing his own fingers over it, he kept it there along time, while Mildred glanced nervously at the clock, whose con- stantly iroviug minute-hand warned her it was time to co. Immediately after supper Hepsy had tsiken her knitting and gone to spend the evening with Widow Simms, and in her absence Mildred dared do things she would otherwise have left undone. Kneel- ing down by Oliver and laying her head upon his knee, she said: " If I should die or go away forovfelr, yonll forgive me, won't you, for striking you in the barn that time, and laughing at your feet. I was mad, or I shouldn't have done it, I've cried about it so many times," and she laid her hand caressingly upon the poor, deform- ed feet turned backward beneath her chair. "Oh, I never think of that," answered Oliver ; "and if you were to die, I should want to die, too, 'twould bo »o lonesome without little Milly," Poor Milly ! She thought her heart would burst, ati'l nothing but a most indomitable will could have sustained her; kissing him several tiinc3 she arose, and making some excuse, hurried a'e, auti. knowing that he was no longer alone. Fi.'cing her clear, brown eyes Ui.oa him, MiMrcd answered : " I walkeil in, and I've conie to stay." i "The olasue yuu have," returned the ihe WM there," bhroiigli lo, tut). 3omo to lita^ion, ur, and library, :, but a lim, and ed back- Tmnot eyes, )ie ought of ring the B gentle ter — and id in that W^ere the ing wild burning ave ? — or lay, and old man b he had iransition lit of the cor. He t off, he were she it not be oice, and oor, the a stool, and her sat the ^eu little ad glided reverie, lis feet, zing fire, er hair, le slow of the sleeping. inie, and untarily uacd the e. I get in, le Judge, satisfac- /ing that ijDu him, stay." rued th» I i: I w);at came of it. 21 i f Judge, vnntly aniuned at the quiet decision with wliich she spoku. ''Come to stay, hey ? But euppoae I won't let you, what then !" " You will," said Mildred ; " and if you turn mu out, I dliall come right in again. I've lived with Oliver's grandmother as lung as I am gdin;^ to. I dou't belong tlicre, nnd to-night I started to run away, bat the cars left nio, and it was cold and daik in tlio woods, and I was kind of 'fraid, aud asked God to take cnro of me aud tell me where to go, and I corned riglit here." There was n big lump in the Judge's throat as ho listened to the child, bui; he swallowed it down, and pointing to the bundle contain- ing Mildred's Sunday clothes, said, "Brought your things, too, I see. You'll be wantmg a closet and a trunk to put them iu, I reckon." The quick-witted child detected at onco the irony in his tone, aud with a quivering lip she answered : "They are the best I've got. She never bought me anything since mother died. She's just as cross as she can be, too, and whips me so hard for nothing — look," and rolling up her sleeve she showed him more than one red mark upon her arm. Sour and crusty as the Judge appeared, there were soft spots scattered here and there over his heart, and though the largest was scarcely larger than a pin's head, Mil- dred had chanced to touch it, for cruelty to any one was sometliing he abhorred. *' Poor little thing," he said, taking the fat, chubby arm iu one hand, and passing the other caressingly over the marks -"poor little thing, we'll have that old she-dragon 'tended to," and something like a tear, both in form and feeling, dropped upon the dimpled elbow. " Wliat makes you star© at me so?" he continued, as ho saw how the wondering brown eyes were fixed upeu him. "I was thinking," answered Mildred, "how you ain't such a cross old feller as folks say you be, and you'll let me stay here, won't you? I'd rather live with you than Lawrence Tliornton " *• Lawrence Thornton 1" repeatru the Judge. "What do you know of him ? Oh, yes, I remenrber now that bespoke of finding vou asleei) ; but were you running away to iiimT" In a few words Mildred told him what her intentions had been, and then she said to him again : " But I shall stay here now and be your little girl." " I ain't so sure of that," answered the Judge, adding, as he saw her counten- ance fall : " What good oould you do me »" Mildred's first thought was, " I can wash the dishes and scrub the floor ;" then •• she remembered that servants did thes* things at Beeechwood, she stood a moment uncertain how to answer. At lost, as a new idea crossed her mind, she said: "When you're old and lonesome, there'll be nobody to love you if I go away, and you'll le sorry if vou turn me off." \Vhy was it the Judge started so quickly and placed his hand betore his eyes, as if to assure himself that it was little Mildred standing there and not his only boy — not liichard, who long ago had said to him : " In the years to come, when you are old and lonesome, you'll be sorry for what you've said to-night." Those wore Richard's words, while Mil- dred's were : " You'll be sorry if you turn me off." It would seem that the son, over whose fate a dark mystery hun^, was there in spirit, pleading for the helpless child, while with him was another Mildred, and louking through the eyes of browu so much like her own, she said, " Take her, father, you will need her some timo I" And so, not merely because Mildred Haw- kins asked him to do it, but because of the unseen influence which urged him on, the Judgo drew the little girl closer to his side, and parting back her rich, brown hair, said to lier pleasantly, "You may stay to- night, and to-morrow night, and if I don't find you troublesome, perhaps you may stay for good." Mildred had not looked for so easy a con- quest, and this unexpscted kindness wruns from her eyes great tears, which rolled silently dov/u her cheeks. "What are you crying for?" asked the Judge. "You are not obliged to stay. You can go back to Hepsy any minute— now, if you want. Shall I call Rachel to hold the lantern ?" He made a motion toward the bell-rope, while Mildred, in an agony of terror, seized his arm, telling him "she was only crying for joy ; that she'd die before she'd go back ! ' and adding fiercely, as she saw he liad really rung the bell : "If you send me away I'll set your house on fire !" The Judge smiled quietly at this threat, and when Rachel appeared in answer to his ring, he said. " Open the register in the chamber above, and see that the bed is all right, then bring us some apples and nuts— and— wait till I get done, can't you— bring us thnt box of prunes. Do you love priinea, child?" 82 MILDRED. , I i •' Yoi, air, t'i"U{fli T rlou't know what they be," 8i>l>ltu(l Mililiud, through th« hiiixla «Uo Uuil olu<>i)u I over hoi face wlieu the thought ■liu lU'iHt gu baok. Sliu kiiesv ihe wai not going now, »ml hor e^va H'liiiiu like diamuims M thuy Hashed U|>()ii thu Judge o h)ok uf gratitude. It wasii'i luiioBoine now in that handiome lil)iut-y where Mildred i»t, eating prune •f . 11- prune, and ai)plo after apple, while the Ju'l^'ti sat watchiiia her with au immense amount of satiafaotion, and, thinking to him- self huw, on the morrow, if ho did nut change his mui'l, he would inquire the price of feiniiiidu dry-goods, a thing he hail not done in yeaiH. In Lis abstraction he even forgot tliiit tilt; ch)ok was ntriking nine, and, hallan hour later, found him still watching Mildred, and nutrviiUiug at her enormous appetite for nuts and prunes. But ho rememoered, at Udt, tliut it was his bed time, and, again ringing for Rachel, he bade her take the lit- tle girl upstairs. It WM a pleasant, airy chamber where Mildred was put to sleep, and it took her a lon^ time to examine the furniture and the various articles for the toilet, the names of which nhti did not eveu know. Then she thought of Oliver, wondering what he would say if he knew where she was; and, going to the window, against which n driving storm was beating, she thought how much nicer it WM to be in that handsome apartment than bask in hor little bed beneath the gable roof, or even running away to Boston after Law- rence Thornton. The next morning when the awoke, the snow lay high -piled upon the earth, and the wind wa» blowing in fearful gusts. But in the warm summer atmosphere pervading the whole houne, Mililred thought nothing of the storm without. She only knew that she was very happy, and when the Jud^e came down to breakfast, he found her singing of her happiness to the gray housecat, which i^e had coaxed into her lap. "Shall she eat with you or wait?" asked Rachel, a little uncertain whether to arrange the table for two or one. •' With mc, of course, you simpleton," re- turned the Judge; "and bring on some sirup for the cakes — or honey; which do you like best, child ? " Mildred didn't know, but guessed that she liked both, and bolh were accordingly placed upon the table —the Judge forgetting to eat in his delight to see how fast the nicely browned buckwheats disappeared. " She'll breed a famine if she stays here long," Rachel muttered, while Finn looked ruefully at the fast decreasing batter. But Mildred's appetite was satisfied at last, and she was about leaving the table, when Ilepsy's sharp, shrill voice was heard in the hull, proolainiing to Rar id uuleis sard thin lUoil tho fthe had Mtoniah- ant, and traid the doath at ' but tall SB he ask brought u tell tlie taid with nd when iistracted He had vas about is grand* 1, sayiuff stay with vious dav [) refuseo. , when he g through ire at Mr. d Hepsy, self, for I uper that run away en suoh a ]ght he'd I a cry of ) window, y moving 1 greatly ig to the le storm, hair, and bbed out, uD away, igh if you go back. jy chimed 1, my fine rhat;" an 1 ' upon the upon tliH lolently to rau for ease keep * her," wlii-'perod Oliver, wliilo Mildred's ovcs flashixl iiiit tlioir ^rntitifllu to iiitii for thus iiktorfi'iiiig in hor belinlf. I "Woman !" and tlio Judge's voifn was like a dap of thnndur, wliito liis heavy biKit caino down with a vcngoAnco as lie grasped j tlio bony arm of Hi'i)'ut she had grown strangely into his love within tho last twenty- four hours, and to himself he said ; *' 1 will not give her up." So after sitting a time in silence, be rc]ilied : " 1 can do you more good than this Oliver with his crooked feet." "Yes, yes," interrupted Mildred, "but it's because his feet are crooked that I can't leave him all alone, and then he loved me first, when ^ou hated me and swore such awful words if 1 just looked at a flower." There was no denying this— but the Judge was not convinced, and ho continued by tcllins her how many new dresses he would buy her— how in the spring he'd get her a pony and a silver-mounted side* saddle ' '• And let me go to the circus?" she said, that having hitherto been the highest object of her ambition. " Yes, let you go to the circus," he replied; "And to Boston and everywhere." The bait was a tempting one, and Mildred wavered for a moment— then just as the Judge thought she was satisHed. she said : "But that won't do Oliver any good." "Hang Oliver!" exclaimed tho Judge ; "I'll tell you what I'll do. I'll have a lady governess to come into the house and teach ycu both. So you will see him every day. I'll get him some new clothes " " And send hiua to college when he's big enough?" put in Mildred. "He told me once he wished he could g6." "Great Peter, what next will yon want? But I'll think about the college ; and if ho learns right smart, and you behave yourself, 1 reckon maybe I'll send him." The Judee had no idea that Oliver would learn "right smart," for he did not know him, ami he merely made the promise by w.ay of quieting Mildred, who, with this prospect in view, became quite contented in her new quarters, though she did so wish Oliver could know it that night, and looking up in the Judge's face, she said : "It's such a little bit of a ways dowu 24 MILDRED. l.i f 115 ^ tli'jre, — coiiMn't you go and toll him, or let me? It Fcems forever till tomorrow."' Had the Juili,'e been told the pruvioiis day th it Mildred Hawkins could have persuaded liiiri to brave that fierce nortli-easter, he would have Sc'ofTed at the idea as a most pre- posterous one, but now, looking into tliose shilling eyes of blown, lifted so pleadingly to lii-i, he folc all Ilia sternness giving way, .nd I'cforo he knew what he wa'J doing, or why hti was doing ic, he found himself ploughing tlinmi^h the snow-drifts which lay bei.ween ])eo liuood and the gable- rin if, where he found Oliver sitting before the (ire with a s;ul, dejected look upon his face as if all the liappiiicss of his life had suddenly be>.'ii taken fioni hiiu. But he brightened at once when he saw the Judge and heard his errand. It wuuld be so ni';e to be with Milly every day and know that she was beyond the reach of his graiulinother'a cruelty, and bursting into tears he stiuumered out his th;inUs to the Judge, who without a sign of recognition for old ilepsy, who was dipping candles with a most sour expression on her puckered lips, started back through the deep snow-drifts, foeliiig more than repaid, when he saw the little, eager face pressed against the pane, and tli(i) heard a sweet, younT; voice calliuj» him ' ' best man in the world." Aii'i Mildred did think him the embodi- ment of every virtue, while her presence in his house worked a marvellous change in him. He had something now to live for, and Ilia step was always more elastic as he drew near liis home, where a nienv-hearted, frdlicsume child was sure to welcome his voiiing. •' The little mistress of Beechwood,'' the penpL- began to call her, and so indeed she w:is, ruling there with a high hand, and mak- ing both master and servant bend to her will, particularly if in that will Oliver were con- cerned. He was her first thought, and she tormented the Judge until he kept his promise of having -v governess, to whom Oliver recited e:tch day as well as her- self. Once during the spring Lawrence Thornton came aguin to Beecliwood, renewing his ac- tjuaintance with Mildred, who, comparing liuii witn other i^oys of lier acquaintance, re- garded him as something more than mortal, and after he was gone, she was never weary of his iiraises. Once in i^peaking ol" him to her teacher. Miss Harcourt, she said, "He's the handsomest boy I ever saw, and he knows so mucli, too. I'd give the world if Oliver was like hiin," and Mildrel's sigh as she thought of poor lame Oliver was echoed liy the white-faced boy without the door, who had come up just in time to hear her remarks, lie, too, had greatly admired Lawrence TUornton, and it lud, perhaps, been some satisfaction to believe that Mil* dred had not observed the diflei eiice between them, but he knew, now, that she had, and with a bitter pang, as he thought of his de> formity, he took his accustomed seat ia the school-room. "I can never be like Lawrence Thornton,*' he said to himself. "I shall always be lame, and small, and sickly, andby and by, maybe, Milly will cease to love me." Dark, indeed, would be hia life, wlien the sun of Mildred's love for him was set, and his tears fell fast, erasing the figures he was making on his slate. "^Vhat is it. Oily ?" and Mildred nestled close by his side, taking his thin hand in her own chubby ones and looking iut^ his face. Without the least reserve he told what it was, and Mildred's tears mingled with, his as he said that Ids twisted feet were ac(^ntinual canker worm— a blight on all his hopes of the future when he should have attaired the years of a man. The cloud was very heavy from which Mildred could not extra t some comrort, and aftnr a moment she looked up cheerily, and said : " I tell you, Oliver, you can't be as hand- some as Lawrence, nor as tall, nor have such nice straight feet, but you can be as good a scholar, and when folks speak of tliat Mr. Hawkins, who knows so much, I shall be so proud, for I shall know it is Oliver they mean, " All unconsciously Mildred was sowing in Oliver's mind ■ (irst seeds of ambition, though not of a worldly kind. He did not care for the world. He cared only for the opinion of the little brown-eyed maiden at his side. It is true he would have endured any amount of torture if, in the end, he might look like Lawrence Thornton ; hot as thi.1 could not be, he determined to re- semble him in something— to read the same books — to learn the same things— to be able to talk about tiit; same place.., and if, in the end, she said he was equal to Lawrence Thornton, ho would be satisfied. So he toiled both early and late, far ootstrippinjj Mildred and winning golden laurels, in the opinion of Miss Harcourt and the Judge, the latter of whom became, in spite of himself, deeply interested in the pate student, who before three years were gone, was fuily equal to his teaciier. Then it was that Mildred came again to his aid, saying to the Judjia o se day, "Oliver has learacd all Miss Harcourt caa teach him, und had;.'t you better be looking out for some good acliool, where ho cab be fitted for college?" "Cool!" returned the Judge, tossing hit LILIAN AND MILDKED. 25 \e same he able ill the awrence So he tri^jpin^ in the Ige, the muself, at, who y equal cigar into tlio grass and siniHng ilowii iipou her. "Cool, I declare. So jou think Id better fit him for collepe, hoy?" "Of course, I do," answered Mildred; "you said you would that stormy day long ago, when Icricdtogo l>ackandyou wouldn't let me." " So I did, Ro T did," returned the Judge, adding that he'd " think about it." The result of this thinking Mildred readily foresaw, and she was not at all surprisjd Avhen, a few days afterwards, the Judge said to her, " I haye made arrangements for Clubs to go to Andover this fall, and if ho behaves himself I shall send him to college, I guess; and — conio back here, you spitMrc," he cried, as he saw her bounding away with the good news to Oliver. But Mild''ed could not stay for more then. She must see Oliver, who could scarcely find words with which to express his gratitude to the man who, for Mildred's sake, was doing so much for him. Rapidly the autumn days stole on, until at last one September morning Mildred's heart was sore with grief, and her eyes were red with weeping, for Oliver was gone and she was all alone. "If you mourn so for Clubs, what do you think I shall do when you, too, go off to school ? " said the Judge. "Oh, I shan't know enough to go this ever BO long," was Mildred's answer, while the Judge, thinking how lonely the house would be without her, hoped it would be so; but in spite of his hopes, there came a day, jnst fourteen years after Mildred was left on the steps at Beechwood, when the Judge said to Oliver, who had come home, and was asking for his playmate: "She's gone to Charlestown Seminary, along with that Lilian Veille, Lawrence Thornton mikes such a fuss about, and the Lord only knows how I'm going to live with- out her for the next miserable three years. " CHAPTER VIL tILIAN AND MILDRED. The miserable three years are gone, or nearly so, and all around the Beechwood mansion the July sun shines brightly, while the summer sliadows chase each other in frolicsome glee'ovcr the velvety svvani, and in the maple trees the birds sing merrily, as if they know that the hand which has fed them so often with crunil)3 will feed them atjain on tlic morrow. In the ganlen, tlie flowers which the child Milly loved so well are blossoming in rich profusion, but tlieir gay bcils present many a broken stalk to-day, lor the Judge has leathered bouquet after bouquet with which to adorn the parlours, the lH)rarv, the chamT)crs, and even the airy halls, for Mildred is very fond of (lowers, and Av lien the sun hangs just above the woo«la and the engine-whistle is heard among the Ma.\ tiold lulls lying to the westward, Mil- dred is coming home, and stored away in some one of her four trunks is a bit of paper saying that its owner has been graduated with due form, and is a tiuished-up young lady. Duiing the last year the Judge had not seen her, for business had called him to Virginia, and, for a part of the time, Beech- wood had been closed and Mildred had spent her long vacation with Lilian, who was now to accompany her home. With this arrange- ment the Judge hardly knew whether to be plea; d or not. Ho did not fancy Lilian. He would a little rather have Mildred all to himself a while ; but when she wrote to him, saying ; -' May Lilian come home with me ? It would please me much to have her" — he answered " Yes," at once ; for now, as of old, he yielded his wishes to those of Mildred, and he waited impatiently for the appointetl day, which, when it came, he fancied would never end. Five o'clock, said the fanciful time-piece upon the marble mantel, and, when the silver bell rang out the next half hour, the carriage came slowly to the gate, and with a thrill of joy the Judge saw the girlish head protrud- ing from the window, and the fat, white hand wafting kisses towards him. He had no desire now to kick her into the street — no wish to send her from Beechwood — no inclination to swear at "Widow Simms for saying she was like himself. He was far too happy to have her home again, and, kissing her cheeks as she bounded to his side, he called her "Little Spitfire," just as he used to do, and then led her into the parlour, where hung the pic'ure of another Mildred, who now might well be likened to herself, save that the dress was old-fashioned and the hair a darker brown. "Oh, isn't it pleasant here ?" she cried, dancing about the room. "Such heaps oif flowers, and, as I live, a new piano ! It's mine, too !" and she fairly screamed with joy as she saw her own name, "MiLDRED Howell," engraved upon it. "It was sent home yesterday," returned the Judge, enjoying her delight and asking for some music. "Not just yet," returned Mildred, "for, sec, Lilian and I are an inch deep with dust;" ami g:itliering up their shawls and hats, the two girls sought their chamber, from which they emerged as fresh and blooming as the roses which one had twined among her (low- ing curls, and the other had placed iu ^aio heavy braids of her rich brown hi»ir, 96 MILDRED. N '* Why is not Oliver here T" MiUlretK asked, an they were about to leave the supper-table, •'or does he think, because he is raised to the dignity of a Junior, that young ladies Are of no importance ?" "I invited him to tea," said the Judge, "but he is suffering from one of his racking headaches. I think he studies too hard, for his face is as white as paper, and the veins on his forehead are large as my linger; so I told him you should go down there when I ■was sick of you." "Which I shall make believe is now," said Mildred, laughingly, and taking from the hall-stand her big straw bat, she excused herself to Lilian, and harrying down the Cold Spring path, soon stood before the gable-roof door, where old Hepsy sat knitting and talking to herself, a habit which had come upon her with increasing years. kt the sight of Mildred she arose, and dropping a low curtsey, began in her fretful, querulous wr,y : "I wonder now if you can stoop to come down here; but I s'pose it's Oliver that's brought you. It beats all how folks that gets a little riz will forget them that had all the trouble of bringin' 'em up. Oliver is up charmber with the headache, and I don't b'lieve he wants to be disturbed." " Yes, he does," said Mildred, and lifting the old-fashioned wooden latch, she was soon climbing the crazy stairs which creaked to her bounding treacl. Of his own accord, and because he knew it would please Mildred, the Judge had caused what was once her chamber at the gable roof to be finished off and fitted into a cozy library for Oliver, who when at home spent many a happy hour there, bending sometimes over his books, and thinking again ef the years gone by, and of the little girl who had often cried herself to sleep, within those very walls. It was well with her now, he knew, and he blessed God that it was so, even though his poor feet might never tread the flowery path in which it w*s given her to walk. He had not seen her for nearly two years, but she had written to him regularly, and from her letters he knew she was the same warm- hearted, impulsivo Milly who had once made all the sunshine of his life. She had grown up very beautiful, too, for among his class- mates were several whose homes were in Charlestown, and who, as a matter of course, felt a deep interest in the Seminary girls, particularly in Miss Howell, who was often quoted in his presence, his companions never (Ireaming that she was aughi to the " club- footed Lexicon," as they called the studious Oliver. Lawrence Tliornton, too, when he camo to the college couimeucement, had said to hiui playfully : " Clul)8, your sister Milly, as you call her, is very beautiful, with eyes like stars and hair the colour of the chestnuts I used to gather in the Mayfield woods. If I were you, I should bo proud to call her sister." And Oliver was proud ; but when the handsome, manly figure of Lawrence Thorn- ton had vanished through the door, ho fan- cied he breathed more freely, though why he should do so he could not tell, for he liked to hear Mildred praised. t '• I shall see her for myself during his va- cation," he thought ; and after his return to Beech wood he was nearly as in. patient as the Judge for her arrival. "She will be home to-day," he thought on the morning when he knew she was expected, and the sunlight dancing on the wall seemed all the blighter to him. He had hoped to meet her at Beech wood, but his enemy, the headache, came on in time to prevent his doing so, and with a sigh of disappointment he went to his little room, and leaning back in his easy-chair, counttd the lagging moments until he heard the well- known step upon the stairs, and knew that she had come. In a moment she stood be- side him, and was looking into his white, worn face, just as he v as gazing at her in all her glowing, healthy beauty. He had kissed her heretofore when they met — kissed her when they parted ; but he dared .not do it now, for she seemed greatly changed. He had lost his little romping, spirited Milly, and he knew there was a dividing line be- tween himself and the grown young lady standing before him. But no such thoughts intruded themselves upon Mildred ; Oliver, to her, was the same good-natured boy who had waded barefoot with her in the brook, picked ' 'huckleberries" on the hills and ch est- nuts in the wood. She never once thought of him as a man, and just as she was wont to do of old, just so she did now — she wound her arms around his neck, and kissing his forehead, where the blue veins Were swell- ing, she told him how glad she was to be there with him again — told him how sorry she was to find him so feeble and thin, and lastly, how proud she was when she heard from Lawrence Thornton that he was first in his class, and bade fair '■o make the great man she long ago predicted he would make. Then she paused for his reply, half expecting that he would compliment her in return, for Mildred was well used to flattery, and rather claimed it as her due. Oliver read as much in her speaking eyes, and when laying her hat upon tlie floor, she sat clown upon a stool at his ftct, he laid his hand fondly on her hair, and said : " You are very, veiy beautiful, Milly !" II I LILIAN AND MILDRED. 27 u call her, ; stars and I used to were you, when tho uce Thorn- )r, he fan- igh \rhy he )r he liked t ng his va- Is return to jent aR the 11 be home ig when he ne sunlight lie brighter Becchwood, came on in with a sigh little room, lir, counted rd the well- knew that le stood be- his white, at her in all 8 had kissed —kissed her d .not do it anged. He titcd Milly, ing line be- young lady ch thoughts red ; Oliver, ed boy who the brook, Isandchest- nce thought le was wont —she wound kissing his were swell- ! was to be how sorry id thin, and n she heard he was tirst make the redicted he 'or his reply, ipliment her ell used to s her due. caking eyes, he floor, she t, lie laid his 1: ri, Milly I" -I " Oh, Oliver !" and the soft, brown eyes looked up at him wistfully — "you never yet told me ft lie ; and now, as true as you live, do you think I am handsome — as handsome, say, as Lillian Veille ?" "You must remember I have never seen Miss Veille," said Oliver, "and I cannot judge you. Mr. Thornton showed me her photograph, when lie was in Amherst ; but it was a poor one, and gave no definite idea of her looks. " "Did Lawrence have her picture ?" Mildred asked quickly, and, in the tone of her voice Oliver detected what Mildred thought was hidden away down the deepest corners of her heart. But for this he did not spare her, and he said : " I fancied they might be engaged." " Engaged, Oliver I" and the little hand resting on his knee trembled visibly. " No, they are not engaged yet ; but they will be some time, I suppose, and they'll make a splendid couple. You must come up to- morrow and call on Lilian. She is the B^ir^etest, dearest girl you ever saw !" Oliver thou^ht of one exception, but he merely answered : " Tell me of her Milly, so I can be somewhat prepared. What is she like?" " She is a little mite of a thing," returned Mildred, " with the clearest violet-blue eyes, the tiniest mouth and nose, the longest, silkest, golden curls, a complexion pure as wax, and the prettiest baby ways — why, she's afraid of everything ; and in our walks I always constitute myself her body-guard, to keep the cows and dogs from looking at her. " "Does she know anything?" asked Oliver, who, taking Mildred for his criterion, could scarcely conceive of a sensible girl being afraid of dogs and cows. "Know anything i" and Mildredlooked per- fectly astonished. " Yea, she knows as much as any woman ever ought to know, because the men — that is, real, nice men such as a girl would wish to marry — always prefer a wife with a sweet temper and ordinary intellect, to a spirited and more intellectual one ; don't you think they do ?" Oliver did not consider himself a "real nice man — such as a girl would wish to marry," and 80 he could not answer for that portion of mankind. He only knew that for him there was but oue temper, one mind, one style of beauty, and those were all embodied in Mildred Howell, who, without waiting for his answer, continued : " It is strange how Lilian and I came to love each other so much, when we are so unlike. Why, Oliver, they called me the spunkiest girl in the Seminary, and Lilian the most amiable ; that's when I first went there ; but we did each other pond, f> r she will occasionally show sonic spirit, avIhIc I try to govern my temper, ami have not been angry m ever so long. You sec, Lilian and I roomed together. I used to help htr get her lessons ; for somehow she coukhrt learn, and, if she sat next to me at recitation, I would tell her what to answer, until the teacher found it out, and made me stop. When Lilian first came to Charlestown, Lawrence was with her ; she was fifteen then, and all the girls said they were engaged, they acted so. I don't know how, but you can imagine, can't you ?" Oliver thought he could, and Mildred con- tinued: "I was present when he bade her good-bye, and heard him say, ' You'll write to me, Fairy?' that's what he calls her. But Lilian would not promise, and he looked very sorry. After we had become somewhiit acquainted, she said to me one day, ' Milly, everybody says you write splendid composi- tions, and now, won't you make believe you are me, and scribble ofTa few lines in answer to this ?' and she showed me a letter just re- ceived from Lawrence Thornton. " "I asked why she did not answer it herself, and she said, 'Oh, I can't ; it would sicken him of me at cnce, for I don't know enough to write decently ; I don't ahvaya spell straight, or get my grammar correct. I never know when to use to or too, or just where the capitals belong ; ' so after a little I was per- suaded, and wrote a letter, which she copietl and sent to Lawrence, who expressed himself so much delighted with what \w called 'her playful, pleasant style,' that I had to M-iite again and again, until now I do it as a matter of course, though it does hurt nic sometimes to hear him praise her, and say ho never knew she had such a talent for writ- ing." "But she will surely undeceive him ?" Oliver said, beginning to grow interested in Lilian Veille. " Oh, she can't now," rejoined Mil- dred, for she loves him too wt^ll, and she says he would not respect her if he knew it." "And how w^ill it all end ?" asked Oliver, to which Mildred repli''d : " End in their being married, of course. Ho always tells her how much he likes her — how handsome she is, and all that." There was the least possible sigh accom- panying these words, and Oliver, who iuinrd it, smoothed again the shining braids, as he said, "Milly, Lawrence Thorutop told inc you were very beautiful, too, with starry eyes and hair the colour of rich brown chestnuts." "Did he, sure ? what else dii he say ?''aiid f!' ' ^ If ns<5unHng a kticclinp; position directly in front of Oliver, Mildred buttoned and unbuttoned his linen cojit, while he told her everything lie Gf)uld remember of Lawrence Thornton's remarks concerning herself. "lie likes me because Lilian does, I snp- pnse," 3he said, when he had finished. "Did 1 tell v"u that his father and Geraldine — that's Lilian's half-sister— have always in- tended that he should marry Lilian? She tnid me so herself, and if she hadn't, I'should have known it from Geraldine, foi you know I have been homo with Lilian ever so many times, besides spending the long vacation there. I couldn't bear her— this Geraldine ; slie talked so insultingly to me, asking if I hadn't the least idea who I was, and saying once, right before Lawrence Thornton, that she presumed my mother was some poor, ignorant country girl, who had been unfor- tunate, and so disposed of me that way I I cuuld have pulled every black hair out of her head !" and Mildred, who, in her excitement loosened a button in Oliver's coat, looked much like the Mildred of old — the child who had threatened to set fire to the Judge's house if he sent her back to Kcpsy. " Mildred," said Oliver, smiling in cpite of himself, and thinking how beautiful she looked even in her anger, "shall I tell you who / think you are?" "Yes, yes," and the wrathful expression of the soft, dark eyes, disappeared at once. "Who am I, Oliver?" "I don't know for certain," he replied, "but I think you are Rich-^rd Howell's daughter. Any way, you are the very coun- terpart of his sister's picture." "Mrs. Thornton, you mean," returned Mildred. There's a portrait of her at Law- rence's home. Almost everybody spoke of the resemblance while I was there ; and once some one made a suggestion similar to yours, but Mr. Thornton said he knew every inch of ground Richard had gone over from the tini« he was twelve years old until he went away, and the thing wasn't possible — that the re- semblance I bore to tjie Howells was merely accidental. I don't like Mr. Thornton. He's just as proud as Geraldine, and acted as if he were afraid Lawrence would speak to me. It was ' Lawrence, Lilian wants you ;' 'Law- rence, hadn't you beeter take Lilian to ride, while I show Miss Howell my geological specimens.* Just a« though I cared for those old stones. He needn't trouble him- self, though, for I don't like Lawrence half a-i well as I do you. But I must go back to Lilian— she'll wonder that 1 leave her so long. " Lilian is here," said a childish voice.and both Oliver and Mildred started quickly, as a little figure advanced from its position near the doorway, where, for the last two minutes, it had been standing. Oliver's first thought was, "she had heard all Mildred said ; she had no business to come up so quietly," and with his previouMly formed impressions of the little lady, he wus not prepared to greet her very C(»rdially. But one glance at the baby face which turned towards him as Mildred said: "This is Oli- ver, Miss Vcille," convinced him that, if she had heard anything, it had not offended her. Indcele girl, and icarted, she particular- jerued. At ressed until ellish child, and favours ender back, id been ten le could not could have baby; and fhy Mildred lent for her. id affection- led her seat )U the floor, on Oliver'* if she had ing, on the word to he* ole thing, tie I know," ums, trant- sitionp, and you know in him, and Boston girls at he don't think may- — Geraldins xn like him le does, for in — and he b he, Milly ? re — and no it-up room. iting for an i stairs, fol- -tho latter n the plea- 0. as they. Idred, and went back 1 the Judgo; impatiently waiting for them. He wanted Boino music, he said, and he kept Mildred, who was a fine performer, singing and play- ing for liim until it was long after his bed- time, and Lilian began to yawn very de- cidedly. "She was bored almost to death," she said, as she at last followed Mildred up the stairs. " She didn't like Becchwood at all, thus far — she did wish Lawrence Thornton would come out there," and with a dis- agreeable expression upon her pretty face, she nestled down among her pillows, while Mildred, who was slower in her movements, still lingered before the mirror, brushing her rich brown hair. Suddenly Lilian started up, exclaiming : " I've got it, Milly, I've got it." "Got what?" asked Mildred, in some surprise, and Lilian rejoined, " Lawrence comes home from Chicago to-night, you know, and when he finds I'm gone, he 11 be horridly lonesome, .ind his father's dingy old office will look dingier than ever. Sup- pose I write and invite him to come out here, saying you wish it, too?" " Well, suppose you do." returned Mil- dred with utmost gravity. " There's plenty of materials in my desk. Will you write sitting up in bed?" and in the eyes which looked every way but Lilian there was a spice of mischief. " You hateful thing," returned Lilian. *' You know well enough when I say '/ am going to write to Lawrence,' I mean you are going to write. He's so completely hood- winked that I cannot now astonish him with one of my milk-and-water epistles. Why, I positively spell worse and worse, so Gerald- ine says. Think of my putting an A in pre- cious I " "But Lawrence will have to know it sometime," persisted Mildred, "and the longer it is put off the harder it will be for you." "He needn't know either," said Lilian. "I mean to have you give me ever so many drafts to carry home, and if none of them suit the occasion Geraldine must write, though alio bungles awfully. And when I'm his wife, I sha'n't care if he does know. He can't help himself tlien. He'll have to put up with liis putty head." " Put will ho respect you, Lily, if he finds you deceived Jiiin to the last?" Mildred aaUod • and with a look very much like a frown ii! her soft blue eyes, Lilian replied : " Now, -Milly, I believe you are in love with him yi)iirself, and do this to be spiteful, but you needn't. Fiis father and Geraldine have always told him he should marry me, and ouce wlien some one teased him about yuu, I heard him say that he should 't want to mar- ry a woman unless he knew something of her family, for fear they might prove to be pau- pers, or even worse. Oh, Milly, Milly, I didn't mean to make you cry ! " and jumping upon the floor, impulsive Lilian wonnd her arms around Mildred, whose tears were dropping fast. Mildred could not have told v^hy she cried. She only knew that Lilian's words grated harshly, but hers was a sunshiny na- ture, and conquering all emotion, she re- turned Lilian's caress, and said : "I will write the letter, Lily — write it to-night, if you like." " I knew you would. You're a splendid girl," and giving her another hug Lilian jumped back into bed, anrl made herself quite comfortable while Mildred knotted up her silken hair and brought out her desk preparatory to her task. Never before had it caused her so much pain to write "Dear Lawrcace" as to-night, and she was tempted to omit it, but Lilian was particular to have every word. "She never could remember, unless she saw it before her, whether the ' Dear ' and the ' Lawrence ' occupied the same or separate lines," she said ; so Mildred wrote it down at last, while half im consciously to herse'f she repeated the words, "Dear Lawrence." "You merely wish tj invito him here ?" she said to Lilian, who answered: "That's the main thing; but you must write three pages at least, or he won't be satisfied. Tell him what a nice journey wo had, and how pleasant Beechwood is. Tell him all about your now piano, and what a splendid giil you are — how I wonder he never fell in love with you — but I'm glad he didn't ; tell'him how much Oliver knows, and how much bet- ter he looks than I thought he did ; that if- he was bigger and hadn't such funny feet, he'd almost do for you ; toll him how dearly I like him — Lawrence, I mean, not Oliver, — how glad I shall he wiion he comes, and Geraldine must seiid my coral ear-rings an I bracelets, and " "Stop, stop ! You drive me distracted !'* cried Mildred, who, from this confused jum- ble, was trying to make out a sensible letter. Her task was finished at last, and she sub- mitted it to Lilian's iii.spection. " But you didn't tell iiim what a splendid girl you are, nor how nuicli I like him," said Lilian, her countenanoe fidling at once. " Can't you add it in a pobtoiipt somehow ?" "Never mind, Lily," returned Mildred, lifting one of the h^ng golden curls which had escaped fron; iho lace cap. " He knows you like him, and when he comes ynu can tell him anything you please of me. It does not look well in me to be wiiliug my owa oraisea." 89 MILDRED. I \ "But you used to," said Lilian. " You wrote to him once, * I love Mildred Howell best of anybody in the world, don't you,' and he answered back, ' Yes, next to you. Fairy, I love Mildred best.' Don't you re- member it, Milly ?" Milly di read aijain the letler received the previous night from liilian. " Siie has a mosc happy way of committing her ideas to paper,'' he thought. "There must he more iu her head than her converaatioii indicates. Perliaps father is ri^lit, after all, in saying ahe will make abetter wife than Mildred." CHAPTER IX. LAWRENCE AT BEECHWOOD. 'V^Mne, Milly "do hurry!" said'Lilian to Mildred on tlie afternoon of the day when Lawrence was cxpcctud "It seems as though yon i\evcr would got all that hair braided. Thirty strands, aa I live, and he:e I am wanting' y«a to (ix my curls, you do it 80 much bettor tlian I can." "Plenty of time," returned Mildred; " Lawrence won't bo here this hour." " But I'm going to the depot," returned Lilian; "and I saw Finn go out to harness just now. Oh, I am so anxious to see him ! Why, Millio, you don't know a thing about it, for you never loved anybody like Law- rence Thornton." "How do you know?" asked Mildred; and catcliing in.stantly at the possibility im- plied, Lilian exclaimed; " Do you, as true as vou live, love some- body?" " Yes, a great many somebodies," was the answer, wlule Lilian persisted: " Yes, yes ; but I mean some mmi — some- body like Lawrence Thornton. Tell me ! " and tlio little beauty began to pout quite becomingly at Mildred's want of confidence in her. " Yes, Lily," said Mildred at last, " I do love somebody quite as well as you love Law- rence Thornton, but it is useless to ask his name, as I sliall not tell. Lilian saw she was in earnest, and she forebore to question her, though she did so wish she knew; and dipping her brush in the marble basin, and letting the water drip all over the light carpet, she stood puzzling her weak brain to think "who it was Mildred Howell loved. The beautiful braid of thirty strands was finished at last, and then Mildred declared herself ready to attend to Lilian, who rattled on about Lawrenoe, saying, " she did not ask Mildred to go with lier to the station because she always liked to bo alone with him. That will do ! " she cried, just as the la^t curl was brushed; and, leaving Mildred to pick up tiie numernns articles of feminine wear, which in dressiivj; she had kft just where she stepped o.it of them, she tiinped gracjfnlly down the walk, and, entering the carriage, was driven to the depot. " Two lovers, a bndy'd suppose by their actions," said • a plain, out-spoken farmer, who chanced to bo at tlio station and wit- nessed the meeting ; while Finn, who had been promoted to the oifico of coachman, rolled his eyes knowingly us he held the door for them to enter. "Oh, I'm 80 glad you've come!" s.aid Lilian, leaning back upon the cushions, and throwing aside her hat the better to display her curls, which Mildred had arranged Avith agreatdeal of taste, "I've been moped al- most to death. " " Why, I thought you said in your letter you were having a most delightful time 1" And Lawrence looked smilingly down up« on the little lady, who replied : "Did she I— did It _ Well, then, I guess I am ; but it's a heap nicer, now you've come. Mildred seems to me a little bit sober. Law- rence," and Lilian spoke in a whisper, for they were now ascending a hill, and she did not care to havo Finn hear, — "Lawrence, I know something about Mildred, but yo\i mustn't never tell, — will you ? She's in love with a man I She told me so confidentially this morning, but wouldn't tell me his name. Why, how your face flushes up ? It is awful hot — ain't it?" and Lilian began to fan her- self with her leghorn hat, while Lawrence, from the window, and watching the wheels grinding into the gravelly sand, iudulned himself in thouuhts not wholly comp'-Miont- ary either to Lilian or the man whuiu Mil- dred Howell loved. " What business had Lilian to betray ^lil- dred's confidence, even to him ? Had she no delicate sense of honour? Or what business had Mildred to be in love?" and, by^^^ie tima the carriage turned into the avenue, Law- rence was about as uncomfortable iu his mind as he well could be. " There's Mildred J Isn't she beautiful with those white flowers in her hair?" cried Lilian ; and looking up, Lawrence saw Mil- dred standing near a maple a little way in advance. With that restlessness natural to people waiting the arrival of guests, she had left the Judge and Oliver, who were sitting in the parlour, and walked slowly down the avenue until she saw the carriage coming, when she stopiied beneath the tree. "Get in here, Milly— get in," saiil Lilian; and, hastily aligliting, Lawrence offered her his hand, feeling strongly toiuotcd to press tlio warm lingers, which he fancied trembled slightly in his own. "Slie has been walking fast," he thought, and he was about to say so, when Liliau startled them with the ex'jlamation : n BSl col Mi ha] an( Ilk] Mil anf "\1 be( yoij yoi| you I LAWRENOE AT IlKECHWOOD. ge, was driven pposo by their poUen farmer, ntion and wit- 'inn, wl^o had of coachman, i held tho duor come !" said cushions, and ;tcr to display arranged with eon moped al- in your letter tfultiniel" gly down up« hon, I guess I ' you've come. t sober. Law* whisper, for 1, and she did "Lawrence, I •cd, but you She's iulova Qoutidontially rac his name. ? It is awful in to fan her* ile Lawrence, [ig the wheels nd, iiiJulyed comi)'''iioiit- t whuiu Mii* lictray Mil- Had she no lat business by«^ie tima venue. Law in his mind le beautiful vir?" cried CO saw Mil- ttle way in to people lad left the ting in the the avenue when she said Lilian; ofTered her 3(1 t'j press d trembled le thought, 'hen Lilian •n J /<» I ••Why don't y>ju kiss her, Lawrence, just at you do iiio ''." Lawrence thought of tho man, and rather coolly replied : "1 never kissed Miss Howell in my life, — neither wouUl she care to have me." •• PerliapH not," returned Lilian, while Mddred's cheeks flushed crimson, — "per- haps not, for hhc is a bit of a prude, I think; and then, too, I heard her say slie didn't like you as well as she did Clubs." "Oh, Lilian, when did 1 eay so?" and Mildred's eyes for an instant dashed witli anger. "You needn't be so mad," laughed Lilian. "You did say so, that tirst night 1 came bere. . Don't you remember, that I surprised you telling Oliver how uncle Thornton kept you looking over those old stones for fear you'd talk with Lawrence, and how you hated them ail V I "Lilian," said Lawrence, sternly, "no true woman would ever wantonly divulge the sec- rete of another, patticulaily if that other be her chosen friend." "S'pectedtliey'd end in a row when I seen 'em so lovin'," muttered Finn; and, hurrying up his horses, he drew up at the gate just as Lilian began to pout, Mildred to cry, and Lawrence to wish he had stayed at home. "Tears, Gipsy? Yes, tears as true as I live," said tlie Judge, who had come down to meet them, and with, liis broad hand he wiped away tho drops resting on Mildred's lung eyelashes. "Nothing but perspiration," she answered, laughingly, while the Judge VQJoined : "Hanged if I ever sa\y sweat look like tiiatl" < ' ■ "Telling him- "he ha4»** seen everything yet," she forced her old ^on^y. smile to her jfaceand ran up the walk, followed by Law- rence and Lilian, wIiq. ere they reached the portico were on the best of terms, Lilian havo lug called hiin a "^reat hateful," while he in return had playfully pulled one of her lony curls. The ilouil, however, (,l>d not so soon Euss from Mildred's hqi^rt, for she hnew ia\vrenco Thornton , liad received a wrong impression, and, what was worse than all, there was no means of rectifying "Wliat is it, Gipsy? V/hat ails you?", asked tho judge, noticing her abstraction. "I thought you'd, be in tlio scveutli, heaven when you got Lawrence Thornton here, and now lie's como you are bluer than a whet- stone." Suddenly remembering that she must give some directions for supper, Mildred ranoU'to the kitchen, where slie found Finn edifying his sister Lucy with an account 9 of the meeting between Lawrence and Lilian. "She stood there all ready," said he, "and the minute tho cars stopped he made a div«« .•\nd hugged her — so," and Finn's long arms wound themselves round tho sliouldera of his portly mother, who repaid him with a cuiF such as slid had been wont to give him in his babyhood. "Miss Lily didn't do that way, I tell yon," said Finn, rubbing his ear ; "she liked it and stood as still. But who do you s'pcct Miss Milly's in love with? Miss Lily tcld Mr. Thornton how she 'fessed to her this morning that he loved a men." "Incourse she'dlove a man," put in Rachel. "She'd look well loviu' a gal, wouldn't she?" "There ain't no bad taste about that, nuther, let me tell you, old woman," and Finn's brawny feet began to cut his favourite pigeon wing as he thought of a certain yellow girl in the village. " I axes yer pardon. Miss Milly !" he exclaimed, suddenly bringing his pigeon wing to a close as he caught sight of Mildred, who had over- heard every word he said. With a heart full almost to bursting she hastily issued her orders, and then ran up to her room, and, throwing herself upon the bod, did what auy girl would have done, cried with all her might. "To think Lily should have told him that!" she exclaimed passionately. " I wish he had not come here. "You don't wish so any more than 1," chimed in a voice, which sounded much like that of Lilian Veille. , 8he knew that Mildred was oflended. and» seeing her go up the stairs, she had followed Do make peace, if possible, for Lilian, while occasionally transgressing, was constantly asking forgiveness. "I'm always doing something silly," she said; "and then you did tell Clubs yon didn't like Lawrence.'' " It is not that," sobbed Mildred, "Fina says you told him 1 loved somebody." " 'i'he hateful nigger!" exclaimed Liliaru "\Vliat business had he to listen and then t* blab? If there's anything I hate it's a tattler 1" "Then why don't you quit it yourself I" asked Mildred, jerking away from the hand wliich was trying to smooth the braid of thirty strands. " Wliat an awfu'. temper you have got, Milly I" eaid Lilian, seating hersflf very composedly by the window, and looking out upon tlie lawn. "I should suppose youM try to control it this hot day. I'm almost melted now." And thus showing how little she roallv r tt MILDRED. Ml cared for her fnoliih thoiv^'litlesnnesR, Lilian fftiiU'il liiT3elf coiniilaccntly, woiideiing why MiMrc-d should feel so hadjy if Lawrenee did know. " (iipsy," culled the Judge from the lower hall," supper ii on the tabic Come down." Ill the present umulition of her face Mil- di'dil would not for the world show her- mli to Liiwrouce Thorntou, and she said to Lilian : '' Vou make some excaie for me, won't you Y' "I'll toll them you're mad," returned Lilian, and she did, adding by way of ex- ptanatiiiu : " Milly told mu this morning she was in love, I told Lawrence, Finn overheard mo, and like a meddlesome fellow as he is, repeatod it to Mildred, who is as spuuky aljout it as you please." "Mildred in love !" repeated the Judge. " Who in thumler is she in lovo ■with ?" Ill a difTeront form Lawrence had asked him''«;lt' that same question many a time witliin the last hour ; but not caring to hear the 8iil)ject (li'cussud, ho adroitly turned the conversation to other topics, and Mildred soon lie.'ird thorn talking pleasantly together, whilo Lilian's merry laughter tohl timt her mind at least was quite at ease. Lilian could not be unhappy loug, and now was quito de- lighted to nnd herself the sole object of attraction to three of the male species. Supper being over, she led the way to the back piazza, whorp sicting close to Law- rence, she rattled ou in her simple, childish way, never dreaming how, while seeming to listen, each of her auditors was thinking of Mihlrcn and wishing she was there. Fur a time Oliver lingered, hoping Mildred wouhl join them again, b'lt as she did not, he at la..*t took hia leave. From her window MiMred saw him going down the Cold 8pring patli, and with a restless desire to know if he thought she had acted very foolisldy, she stole out of the back way, and, taking a circuitous route to avoid ob- servation, reached the gable-roof and knocked at the door of Oliver's room just after he had entered it. "May I come in '!" she said. "Certainly," he answered. "You are alvvays welcome." Anil lie pushed toward her the st^ol ou which she sat, but pushed it too far from himself to suit Mildred's ideas. She could not remember that sho was no longer tlie little girl who used to lavish j>o many sisti-rly caresses upon the boy Oliver ; ncitlicr did she reflect that she Mas now a youii'4 lady of seventeen, and he a niuu of tweutyoae, possessing a man's heart, even though tho oanket which onshrinod that heart was blighted and deformed. " I want to put my head in your Up juit as I used to do," she said ; and, drawing ih« stool closer to him, she rested her burning check upon his knee, and then waited (or him to speak. "You have been cryinj;, Milly," he said at la^t, and sho replied : " Ves, I've had un awful day. Lilian led me into confessing that I lovrd somebody, never dreaming tiiat she wtuild tell it to Lawrence ; but she did, and sho told him, too, th.it I said I hated all^ the Thorntona. Oh, Oliver, what must he think of me?^ " Foi' loving 8otue(>ody or hatinff th* Thorntons, which ?" Oliver asked, ana Mil dred replied ; " Both are bad enough, but I can't beat to have him think I hate him, for I don't. I — oh, Oliver, can't you guess ? don't you know ?— though why ihould you when yoo hove loved only me ?" "Only you, Milly— only you," nid Oliver, while there came a mist before hie eves as ho thought of tho hopeless anguish the loving her had broucht him- Hut not for the world would he sufTer her to know of the lovo which had become a part of his very weary life, and he was glad that it was growing dark, so she couhl not see the whiteness ol his face, nor tho effort that it cost him to say in his quiet tone : "Milly, do you love Lawrence Thorn* ton?" He know she did, but he would rather she should tell him so, for ho fancied that mij^ht help kill the pain which was gnawing at his heart. " I have never kept anything from von, Oliver," she said ; "aud, if you arc willing to be troubled, I waul to tell you all about it. Shall]?" " Yes, tell me," he replied ; and, nestling so close to him that she miuht have heaid the beating of his heart, Mildred t<>!d him of her love, which was so hopelo.s.* Dccause of Lilian Veille. "I shall never be married, "she said; "and when we are old wc will live together, you and I, and I shall forget lliat 1 ever loved anyl»ody better than you ; lor J do — torgive me, Oliver," and her little, Roft, wann ha.nd crept after tho cold, clainnty ono, which moved further away as heis a|tproac!tcd, and nt lust hid it:itld tell it to she told him, the Thorntona. ik of me f ir hatinff th« sked, and Mil Lit I can't beat ini, for I don't. !83? don't you you when you you," taid mist before hie tpelees anguish no. Id he Bufler her had beconio a nd he was glad ) she could not , nor the effort uiet tone : yreuce Thorn* would rather )e fancied that was gnawing I THK UIVEll . 30 ing rou yoi from von, arc willing lu all about and. nestlins It liave heaid red t'>!d him }e\i.-!if i)ccau»e he said; "and tngcllier, you 1 ever loved 1 — torgive t, waiiii hand oiii', which )rnachcd, aivd cliair, while ovu liitn the 1 to i(»v' what S'liti are Iny pfi ilillcrent .^t.iinl 't, but let I.Tine, nor lid I'l iiily as l^wrnnoo Thornton, and that you loved somebody— me, perhaps." " Yes, you— say you, Milly," and the poor, deformed Oliver felt a thrill of jov as ho thou)^ht of himself " tsH, and straight, and handsome, and loving Mildred Howell." "And suppose I did not love you in re- torn," said Mildred, " wouldn't vour heart auhe S.S it never has ached yet ? " Oliver could have told her of a heartache such as she had never known, but he dared not, and he was about framing some word of comfort, when Judge UoweU's voice was heard below, asking if hia runaway were there. "Oh, it's too bad!" said Mildred. "I wanted to have age8 of a book, and Mildred drummed list- esaly upon the piano. Oliver did not join them, and Luce, who, before dinner went down to the Cold Spring for water, brought back the news that he was suffering from one of bis nervous headaches. " He needs more exercise," said Lawrence. " I mean to take him with me this afternoon when 1 go down to bathe in the river." Accordingly, about four o'clock, he called upon Oliver, who looked pale and haggard, as if yearij of suffering had passed over him since the previous night. Still, he was so much better, that Lawrence ventured to pio- poae hia going to the river. " No matter if you can't awim, ' he said ; " you can sit upon the grass and look at me. '' Oliver knew that the fresh air would do him good, and he went at last with Law- cnce to the quiet spot which the latter had ■elected, partly because it was remote from any dwelling, and partly because the water was deeper there thp at the points higher up. Sitting down oeneath a tree, Wnicr grew near to the bank, Oliver watched hh companion, as he plunged boldly into this stream, and struck out for the opposite shorq. " Why am I not like him. instead of being thus feminine and weak r' was the bitter thought creeping into Oliver's heart, when suddenly a fearful cry rose on the air— a cry of "Help! I'm cramped! oh, help me Clubs! " and turning in the direction wheA^A it came, Oliver saw a frightened face disii'p- poaring beneath the water, While the out- stretched hand, which W6nt down last, seemed imploi'ing him for aid. In an instant Oliver stood by th« river bank, and when the face came up again, he saw that it was whiter than before, and the voice was fainter which uttered another name than that of Clubs. At tlrst Oliver thought he was mistaken, but when it came a second time, he reeled as if smitten by a heavy blow, for he knew then that the drowning man had cried out: " Milly I dear Milly ! " aa if he thns would bid her farewell." For a Bocond Oliver atood spell-bound while thought after thought traversed his whirling brain. Lawrenoe was his rival, and yet not his rival, for, even had he never been, such as Oliver Hawkins could not hope to win the queenly Mildred, whose heart would break when they told her Lawrence was dead. She would come to him for com- fort, as she always did, and how could he tell her he had looked silently on and seen him die ? There would be bitter reproach in the eyes which never vet had rested upon him save in love, and rather than meet that glance Oliver resdlved at last to save Law- rence Thornton, even if he perished in the attempt. " Nobody will mourn for the cripple," he said. "Nobody miss me but Mildred, and Lawrence will comfort her ; " and with one last, hurried glance at the world whioh had never seemed so bright as on that Jaly after- noon, the heroic Oliver sprang into the river, and struck out for the sjpot where Lawrence last went down. He forgot that he had never learned to swim— nor knew that he was swimming — for one thought alone was uppermost in his mind, and that a thought of Mildred. Here was the name upon his lips— hers the ima g before his mind as he struggled in the rollins river — for her he ran that fearful risk — pud the mighty love be bore her buoyed him up, MILDRED. • '%' I I untn he reaolied the spot where the wAtori were still in wild ooinmotion. IW what meana he grasped the tui>Kled hair— held up the rigitl form and took it back to tiio Hhino, he uovur know, it pasHod so liko adicam. With an almost Biipcrhuiiianciroit.lio drag^'cd the body up tho bank, laid it u|)on the grass, ftnd then his feeble voice, raised to its highest pitch, went echoing up tho hill, but brought back no response. Throuj;h the ■oft summer haze he saw the chimneys of the Becchtvood mansion, and the cunola on the roof where Mildred often sot, and where ■he was sitting now. But his voice did not teach hor, or if it did she thought it was some poor insect'a hum, and turned again to her book, unmindful cf the dying Law- rence beneath the maple tree, or of the dis* tracted Oliver, who knelt above him, feeling (or his pulse, and dropping tears like rain open his face. " I must go for help, and leave him here alone," he said, at last, and he started on his way, slowly, painfully, for ere plunging into the river he had thrown aside his shoes, and his poor, tender feot had been cut upon a sharp pointed rock. But he kept on hia wav, while his knees shook beneath him, and in his ears there was a buzzing sound like the rush of many waters. Human strength could not endure much more, and by tho time he reached his grandmother's gate he sunk to the ground, and crawled ■lowly to thedoo. In wild affright old Hep- ay came out, asking what Nvas the matter. " Lawrence I " he gasped — ''he's drowned —he's dead I " Then from his mouth and nose the crimson blood qushed out, and Hepsy had just cause for screaming as she did : I' Help! Murder 1 Fire! Mildred Howelll Oliver is dead, and Lawrence too ! " From her seat in the cupola Mildred heard the cry, for Hepsy's voice wasshrill and clear, and it rang out like an alarm-belL Mildred heard her name and that Oliver was dead, and bounding down the stairs she went Hy- ing down the Cold Spring path, while close behincj her came the wheezing Judge, with Lilian f(^lowing closely in the rear. On the floor, just where he had fainted, Oliver was lying, and Mildred's heart stood still when sno saw his dripping garments, and the blood stains round his pallid lips. "Poor, poor Oliver," she said, kneeling down beside him, and %vringing his wet hair. *• Where has he been ? " At the sound of her voice his eyea nnclosed. and he whispered faintly : " Lawrence, M il- ly. Lawrence is dead under that tree." Then for one brief instant, Mildred fancied licrself dying, but the sight of Lilian, who had just come in, brought bank her benumb- ed faculties, and going up to her, she said : " Did you hear, Lily? Lawrence is dead —drowned. Let us go to him together. Ue is mine, now, as muoh us yours." •• Oil, I carn't, I carn't ! " sobbed Lilian, cowering back into a corner. "I'm afraid of dead [oiks I I'd rather Htayhcre." "Fool I dough-head!" thundered the Judge, who thoroughly disliked her, and was now out of all kind of patience. " Go to the lu use, then, and ace that his chambar ia ready for the body;" and witliout waiting to see if bin orders M'cre obeyed, ho hastened after Mildred, who was Hying over the dis- tant fleldH as if she sported a pair of unseen wings. Shosaw the stains from Oliver's wound- ed feet, and knowing that she was right she I an on and on until she rnuchcd the spot, whither other aid had prece49il her, else Lawrence had aurely floated down the deep, dark river of death. Two villagers, returning from a neighbour- ing wood, had fnund him lying there, and wera doing for him what they could when Mildred came up begging of them to aay if ho were dead. "Speak to him, Mies IIowoll," said one of the men. " That may bring him bwck — it sometimes does;" 'out Mildred's voice, though all powerful to unlock Oliver's scattered senses, could not penetrate the letharpy which had stolen over Lawrence, and, with an ominous shake of their heads, the two men bore him back to the house, where Lil- ian, in her own room, was sobbing as if her heart would break, and saying to Rachel's grandchild, who had toddled in and asked what was the matter : " Oh, I don't know ; I want to go home and see Ger.. t..ne." "Gohorae, then, and be hanged," the Judge finally added, speaking the last word very naturally, as if that were what he had all the time intended to say. With one scornful glance at Lilian, who, as Lawrence was borne past her door, covered her face with her hands and moaned: "Oh, I can't look at him," Mildred saw that everything was made comfortable, and then all through the anxious, excitinc hour which followed, she stood bravely by, doing whatever was necessary for her to do, and once, at her own request, placing hev warm lips next to the cola ones of the unconscious man, and sending her life-breath far down the lungs, which gave back only a gurgling sound, and Mildred, when she heard it, turned aw a-, whispering : "Ho is dead!" * But Lawrence was not dead : and whei-. the night shadows were stealing into the I I i k I k hPT bcnumb- hcr, Bhu*ai*l : I'lonce is dcml together. Uo l-B." Bobbed Lilian, "I'm »frftid y licre." imulcred the id her, and waa .. "Go to the ia chambar ia lout waiting to , ho hastened over the dis« |)air of unseoD )liver'8 wound- 3 was right she iched the spot, i(\tf\ her, else lowu the deep, m a neighbour- ing there, and iy could when hem to flay if (11," said one of him b«ck — it 'b voice, though ;er's scattered 3 the letharpy uce, and, with leads, the two ise, where Lil- bbing as if her . in THE laVKR. 37 to Rachel's and asked It to go home hanged," the g the last word re what he had ly. With one as Lawrence vercd her face "Oh, I can't hat everything lien all through hich followed, whatever was cl once, at her m lips next to iou3 man, and >wn the lungs, ing sound, and b, turned aw a- . ead : and wher. ealiug into the 4 4 I room, ho gave Bignn that life was not extinct. Mihlrcil was thu lirst to diaoovcr it, and her cry of joy went ringing through the house, •ud puiiutrutud t<] tlie room where Lilian still cnworod upou the tloor. But L'liau mistook the cry, aad graHpuig thu dross of the little oil lid, who had started to leave her, she sobbed : " Don't go, — don't leave me alone, — it's getting dark, and I'm afraid of ahosts 1" "Confouudud fool 1" muttered the Judge, who pAHHcd the door in time to hear the re- mark, and wliofult strongly tempted to hurl at iiur head the brandy bottle he carried in his hand. " It wouldu't make any more impression though, than on a bat of cotton wool," ho said, and ho hurried on to the chamber wiioio Lawrence Thornton was en- during all tho pnngs of a painful death. But ho was saved, and when at last the tieroo struj^gle was over, and the throes of agony had ceased, he fell away to sleep, and the uhysiciun bade all leave the room except Mildred, who must watch him while he slept. "Will he live? Is he past all danger?" she asked, and when the physician answered "Yes," she said : "Then 1 must go to Oliver. Lilian will sit with Mr. TJiorntou." " But is her face a familiar one ? Will he be pleased to see her here when he wakes ?" the doctor aska, and Mildred answered sad- ly: " Yes, far more pleased than to see me." " Let her come, then," was the reply, and hurrying to Lilian, Mildred told her what was wanted. "Oh, I carn't, I carn't I and Lilian drew back. "I ain't used to sick folks 1 I don't know what to do. You stay, Milly, that's a deor, good girl." " But I can't," answered Mildred. "I must go to 01ivor,rvo neglected him too long, "and seeing that Lilian sliowcd no signs of yield- ing, sne took her by the arm, and led her in- to Lawrence's chamber. "Sit there," she said, placing her in a chair by the bedside, "and when he wakes, give him this," pointing to something in a cup, which tho doctor liad prepared. "Oh, it's so dark, and his face so white," sobbed Lilian, while Mildred, feeling btroDgly inclined to box htir ears, bade her once more sit still, and then hurried away. "There's grit for you," muttered the Judge, who in the next room ^1 overheard the whole, "There's a girl worth having. Why, I'd give more for Milly's little ringer than for tliat gutta percha's whole body. Afraid of tho Aa,vk—lUlte/ool I How can lie coo round her as he does ! But I'll put a Ilea in his ear. I'll tell him that in Mildred Howell's face, when she thought that ho was dead, I saw who it was she loved. I ain't blind," and tho Judge uaoed up and down the room, while MiMred kept on her way, and soon reached tlio gable roof. "A pretty time of day to get here, "growled old Hepsy; "after the worst is over, and he got well to bed. I'd save that city sprig for you again if I was Clubs." "Grandmother, nlease go down," said Oliver, while Mildred, unmindful of old Hepsy's presence, wound her arms around his neck, and he could feel her' hot tears dropping like rain upon his face, as she whis- pered : "Darling Oliver, heaven blcsi you, even as I do. I kubw it must have been so; bu*-. why did you risk your life for him ? Say, did you T" "Grandmother, will you go down ?" Oliver sold again; and muttering something about "being glad to get rid of suohsickishuess,"uM Hepsy hobbled olF, \Vlien sure thi.t she was gone, Oliver placed a hand on each side of the faoe bending over him, and said: "Don't thank me, Mildred; I don't deserve it, for my first wicked thought was to let him drown, but when 1 remembereiSfner hair, "when Lawrence Thorn- ton was unking in the river, whose name do you'ihmk he called?" "Lilian's!" and by the dim light of the candle burning on the stand, Oliver could see the quivering of her lips. "No darliug, not Lilian, but 'Milly, dear Milly.' That was what he saicl ; and there was a world of love in the way he said it" Mildred's eyes were bright as diamonds, but Oliver's were dim with teai-s, and he could not see how they sparkled and Hashed, while a smile of joy broke over the face. He only knew that both Mildretl'a hands were laid upon his forehead as if she would doubly bless him for the words he had si>oken. There was silence a moment, and then Mildred's face came so near to his that he felt her breath and Mildred whispered ti- midly: " Are you certain, Oliver, that you beard .1 I 3S MILDRED. aright ? Wasn't it Lilian ? Tell me again just what he said," *' Milly, dear Milly," and Oliver's voice was full of yearning tenderness, as if the won.is welled up from the very depths of his own heart. She looked so bright, so beautiful, sitting there beside him, that he would willingly have given his life, could he once have put hia arms around her and told her how he loved her. But it must not be, and, with a mighty effort, which filled the blue veins on hia forehead and forced out the drops of perspiration, he conquered the desire, but not until ho closed his eyes to shut out her glow- ing beauty. "You are tired," she said. " I am wear- ing you out," and, arranging his pillows more comfortably, she made a movement to go. He let her think he was tired, for he would rather she should leave him, and, with a whis- pered "good-bye, dear Oliver," she glided trom the room. CHAPTER XI. LAWBENOK DECEIVED AND VNDECEITED. For a time after Mildred left him, Lawrence slept on quietly, and Lilian eradufdly felt her fears subsiding, particularly as Rachel brought in a lamp and placed it on the man- tel. Still she was very nervous and she sat sobbing behind her handkerchief, until Law- i-euce showed signs of waking ; then, remem- bering what MiMred had said of something in a cup, slie held it to his lips, bidding him drink, but he would not, and, setting it down, she went back to her crying, thinking it mean of Mildred to kava her tlj^ere so long • ■en she wasn't a bit acciistoipjMlf to sick to:\b._ ^ y' ^ Su idenly she felt a hand latiV,;iipon her cwu, and, starting up, she saw Lawrence The. nton looking at her. Instantly all her f'trcitude gave way, aud laying her face on the Tiillow beside him she sobbed: '' Oh, Lawrence, Lawrence, I'm so glad •'Ou jiin'tdead, anil have waked up at last, for its d'-eadful sitting here alone.' Drawing her nearer to him tUe j'oung intMi said : * Poor child, have you been here long?" "Yes, ever since the doctor left," she ansvered. "Mildred is with Clubs. I don't believe she'd care a bit if you should die. ' " Mildred— Mildred," Lawrenca repeated, as if trying to recall something in the past. *' Tlien it ^vas j/o« who were with me in ail that d'-e-'.dful agony, when my life came back again. I fancied it was Mildred." Lilian had not the courage to undeceive him, for there was no mistaking the feeling which prompted him to smooth her golden curls and call her "Fairy." Still she must say something, and so she said : " I held the cup to your lips a little while •go." " I know you did," he answered. "You are a dear girl, Lilian. Now tell me all about it and who saved my life." "Waked up in the very nick of time," muttered the Judge, who all the while had been in the next room, and who had been awake just long enough to hear all that passed between Lawrence and Lilian, "Yes, air, just in the nick of time, and now we'll hear what soft- pate has to say ;" and mov- ing nearer to the door he listened while Lil- ian told Lawrence how Oliver had taken him from the river and laid him under a tree, where he was found by two cf the vil- lagers, who brought him home. "Then," said she, "they sent for the doctor, who did all manner of cruel things until you came to life and went to sleep. " "And Mildred wasn't here at all, '*^ said Lawience sadly. "Why did she stay with Oliver? What ails him ? " " He had the nose-bleed, I believe," an- swered Lilian. " You know he's weak, aud getting you out of the water made him sick, I suppose. Mildred thinks more of Oliver than of you, I guess." "The deuce she does," muttered the Judge, and he was about going in to charge Lilian with her duplicity, when Mildred herself appeared, and he resumed his seat to hear what next would occnr. "I am sorry I had to leave you," she said, going up to Lawrence, " but poor Oli- ver needed the care of some one besides old Hepsy, and I dare say you have found a competent nurse in Lilian." " Yes, Fairy has been very kind " said Lawrence, taking the young girl's hand, " I should havb been sadlv oft without her. But what of Oliver?" Mildred did not then know how severe a shock Oliver had received, and she replied that, "ho was very weak, but would, she hoped, be better soon." •* I shall go down to-morrow and thank him for saving my life," was Lawrence's next remark, while Mildred asked some trivial queston concerning himself. •• Why in thunder don't she tell him all about it ? " growled the Judge, beginning ±o j^row impatient. " Why don't aho ten hiiu how slie woiked likenu ox, while t'other one sat ou tiie (ioor and snivelled?" Then as she heard Mildred s.ay that she must go and see which of the negroes would f tay with him that night, he continu- ed his mutteriiigs : "Mihlred's a fool— f # i? I ig the feeling li her golden ttill she must a little while ered. "You ' tell me all ick of time," ;he while had vho had been dear all that Lilian. "Yes, id now we'll ;" and mov- led while Lil- ir had taken him under a wo cf the vil- sent for the f cruel things t to Bleep." 3 at all,' said ihe stay wiih believe," an- e's weak, and ade him sick, ore of Oliver nattered the in to charge t'hen Mildred ned his seat |\'e you," she but poor OH- le besides old have found a kind " said I's hana, " I without her. how severe a she replied it would, she and thank Lawrence's asked some fcelf. che tell him tlie Judge, t. " Why ikcd like hu iie door and Mildred say f tl:e negroes he continu- Vs a fool — 1 LAWRENCE DECEIVED AND UNDECEIVED. 89 Thornton's a fool — and that Lilian is a con- sumniato fool ; but I'll fix 'em ;" and striding into the room, just as Mildred waaleavingit, he saitl, "Gi^jsy, como back. You needn't go aft<^r a nigger. I'll stay with Lawrence myself." It was in vain that both Lawrence and Mildred remonstrated against it The Judge was ill earnest. " Unless, indeed, you want to wat;h," and he turned to Lilian : "Yon are such a capital nurse — not a bit afraid of the dark, nor sick folks, you know," and he chucked her under the clun, while she began tu stammer out : "Oh, I earn t ! I caru't ! it's too hard — too hard." " Of course, it's too hard," said Lawrence, amazed at the Judge's proposition. " Lilian is too delicate for that ; she ought to be in bed this moment, poor child. She's been sadly tried to-day," and he looked pityingly at Lilian, who, feeling that in some way wholly unknown to herself, she had been terribly aggrieved, began to cry, and left the room. " Lo>)k out that there don't something catch you in the hall," the Judge called after her, shrugging his shoulders, and thinking that not many hours would elapse ere he pretty thoroughly undeceived Lawrence Thornton. But in this he began to fancy he might be disappointed, for soon after Mildred left t'.itly the tears came to Mildred's eyes, but Lawrence thought they Were induced by a dread of losins Ldliau, and he hastened to say, ''She need not go, of course, unless she chooses," "But you— why need you go ?" asked Mil- dred. "I WHS anticipating so much pleasure from your visit, and that first night you came I was so rude and foolish. You must Uiiiik me» strange girl, Mr. Thornton." Whether he thought her strange or not, he thought her very beautiful, sitting there before him in her white morning wrapper, with her cheeks fresh as roses and her brown haif parted smoothly back from her open brow. " It was wrong in Lilian to betray yoitr oontidence," he replied; "but she did it thoughtlessly, and has apologized for it, I presume; aha prontiscd me she would." Miidred did not tell him that she hadn't and he continued, " It is very natural that a girl like you should have hosts of admirera, and quite as natural th^t yon should give to bosis one of them the preference. I only hope he is worthy of you, Milly." dildred felt that she could not re^ttrain Jier tears much longer, and she was »;lad when Lilian at last came in, thus affor.ting her a good excuse for 8*;eaMng away. She did not hear what passed between the two, butwhen Lilian came down to breakfast pti6 said, " Lawrence had suggested -heir going home," and as nothing could pleas a her more, they would start the next day, if he were able. " I'll liet he won't go before he gets a i>iece of my mind," thought the judge, as he watched for a favourable opportunity, but Iiilian wj»s always in the M-ay, long after dinner he went room, he found that he had visit Oliver, who was still confined to his bed and seemed to be utterly exhausted. Lawrence had net expected to* Hnd him so pale and sick, and at first he could only press his bancs in silence. " It wn^ very kind in you Clubs,'' he said at last, " to save my life at the 1-isk of your own." "You are mistaken," returned " it was for Mildred I risked my more than for you." " For Mildred, Clubs— for Mildred 1" and all over Lawrence Thornton's handsome face there broke a look of perplexity and delight and when to Lawrence'* gone down to Oliver ; life far '. r I tl M h rIO I ■/■ r i I MILDRED. for Oliver's words implied a something to believe which would be happiness indeed. "I can't tell you now, said Olivcf, "I am too faint and weak. Come to me before you go, and I will explain ; but lirst, Law- rence Tliornton, answer me truly, as you hope for heareii, do you love Mildred llowel! ?" "Love Mildred Howell — love Mil- drod HowelU" Lawrence repeated, in amazement "Yes, Clubs, as I hope for heaven, I love her better than my life, hut she isn't for mo, ishc loves somebody else," and he hurried down the stairs, nfever dreaming that the other was himself, for had it ))ecn, she would not have deserted him the previous day, when he was so near to death. *'No, Oliver is deoeived," and he walked slowly back to Beechwood, thinMng how bright the future would look tdtiim could he but possess sweet Mildred How- ell's love. "I never receive any help from Lilian," ..he uuconspiously said aloud. " She lies like a wei;;ht upon my faculties, while Mildred has tike most charming Way of rubbing np one's' ide.as. Mildred is splendid," and hip toot touched the lower step of the bax!k piazza jnst as the Judge'tt voice chimed in : "I'm glad you think lo. That's -what I've been trying to »et At this wljole day, so sit d<)>Vn here, li.Ttnton, and w«'Il have a confidential chat. , The girls are oflf. riding, and there's no. one to disturb usi" Lawrence took the offered seat, and the Judge continued : " I don't know how to commence it, see- ing there's no head nor tail, and I shall make an awful bungle, I presume, but what I \irant to say is this : You've got the wool pulled over your eyes good. I ain't blind, nor deaf either, if one of my ears is shut up tight as a drum. I heard her soft-soaping you last night, making did anything but her. ho continued, as he saw the my tified ex- pression on Lawrence's i".' -o, •^i jw, hon- est, didn't she make you believe that she did about the 'vhole ; that is, did what wo- men would naturally do in such a case T " Lawrence had received some such impres- sion and as he had no reason for thinking Lilian would purposely deceive him, he .>-used up at once in her defence. "Everybody was kinl. I presume, he said, "but I must sty tjiat for a little, ner- vous creature as she ij, J =V"n acted nobly, standing fearlessly by until the worst was over, and then, when all the rest were cone, whj was it sat watching me, but Lilian?" " Lilian ! the devil I There, I have sworn, and I feel the better for it," 8aiablo of doing it, prtay continue. " " ^Jever granted a rpquest more willingly in my life," returned the Judge. "Thorn- ton, you certainly have some sense, or your father would never have married ray dangh- ter." Lawrence conld not tell well what that had to do vith his having sense, but he was too anxious to interrupt the Judge, who continued : " You see, when Clubs crawl- ed back to his door and told how you were dead, and when Hopsy fecroamed for help like a panther as she is, Mildred was the first to hear it, and she went tearing down the hill, while I went wheezing after, with Lilian following like a snail. I was standing by when Clubs told Miily you were dead, and then, Thorn- ton, then there was a look on her face which niiule my very toes tingle, old as I am. Somehow the girl has< got an idea that you thiuk Lilian a little angel, and turning to her, she said, 'Lilian, Lawrence is dead. Let «s gjoto him together. He ia mine now as much as yours," but do you thuik, boy, that she went ?" " Yes, yes, I don't know. Go on," gasped Lawrence, whose face was white as ashes. "Well, sir, she dldnt, but shrank back in the corner, and snivell'^d out, ' I carn't, I :arnt. I'm afruid of dead folks. I'd rather stay here.' 1 suppose I said some savage things beforfe I started after Milly, who was Hying over the fields just as you have seen your hat fly in a strong March wind. When I got to the tree I found her with her arms around your neck, and as hard a wretch aa I am, I shed tears to see again on her face that look, as if her heart were brokeii. When we reached homo with you, we foun.l Lilian crying in her room, and she never so much as lifted her finger, while Mildicd stood bravely by, and once, Thornton, she put her lips to yours and blew her breath mto your lungs, until her cheo';^^ Stuck out like two globe lamps. I thiriu that did the business, for you soon showed signs of life, and then Mildr.-^d ci'ied out for joy, while Lilian, who heard her, fancied you weie dead, and wanted 8(>mebody to stay with her, because she Avas afraid of ghost*. ^Tust as though you wouLln't have enough lo do seeing what kind of a place j-ou'd go into, without appearing to her? Whf n the danger was all over, and you v/ere asleep, Mildred, of course, wanted to go to Clubs, so she asked Lilian to stay with you, but she hkd to bring her in by force, for Lilian said she I LAWnEXCE DECEIVED AND UNDECEIVED. 41 lants with his are a fool." I Lawrence ; D be enlight- of doing it, nore willingly go. "Tliorn- Bcnse, or your od my datigh- i^ell what that 36, but he wai e Jnrlge, who Clubs cravvl- and toM and when a panther as hear it, and hill, while I liau following r)y when Clubs 1 then. Thorn- her face which old as I am. idea that you md turning to Tence is dead. :e is mine now ou think, boy, nio on," gasped ite as ashes. t shrank back it, ' I carn't, 1 iS, I'd rather d some fcavago illy, who was you have seen wind. When with her arms rd a wretch as ain on her face were brol>eti, you, we found nlie never s(» vl)ile Mildred Thornton, she ew her breath ';^^ Stuclsi out u Uiat did the signs of life, or joy, while cied you were to stay with ghosts, j^ust enough ip do -you'd go into, tim the danger deep, Mildred, Clubs, 80 she , but shehted Lilian said the was afraid of tho dark. I was in the next room and heard tho whole performance. I heard you, too, make a fool of yourself, when you woke up and Lilian gave you her version of the story. Of course, I was considerably riled up, for Mildred is the very apple of my eye. Lawrence^ do you love Lilian Veille?" Scarcely an hour before, Oliver had said to J^awrence, " jJ you love Mildred Howell ?" and nn\" the Judge asked, "Do yon love Lilian Voillc ?" To the first Lawrence had answered "'Yeg. " Ho could answer the same to tho last, for he did lovo Lilian, though not as ho loved Mildred, and so he said yes, asking in a faltering voice: "What he was expected to infer from all he had heard ?" "Lifer?" repeated tho Judge. "Good thunder, you ain't to infer anything ! You are to take ifc for gospel tnith. Mildred dots love ?r(mebody, as that blabl)ing Lilian said she did, and the two firstietters of his name are i^awreu'io Thornton. But what the misclilef, boy 5 are you sorry t6 know that the queen of all tho girls that ever was born, or ever will be, is in love with you ?" he asked, as Lawrence sprang to his feet, and walked rapidly up and down the long piazza. '•' Sorry— no ; but glad ; so glad ; and may I talk with licr to-night?" answered Law- rence, forgottiiig his father's wrath, 'wliich was sure to fail upon liim— forgetting Lilian — forgetting evorything save the fact that Mildred Howoll loved him. ' _■ '. ' " Sit down here, boy," returncct th6 Jixage. *' I have ..lore tf) say before I answer that question. You li.ive seen a guarded, crabbed old oak, haven't you, with a green, beautiful vine creeping over and avouud it, putting out a broad leaf here, sending forth a tendril there, and covering up the deformity be- neath, until people spy of that tree, "It's rot BO ugly after all?' But Lfjar the vine away, anrl the oak is uglier than ever. Well, that sour, crabbed tree is me • aud that beau- tiful vine, bearing the broad leaves and the luxurious fruit, is Mildred, who has crept around and over, and into my Viry being, until there is not a throb of uiy heart Which does not bear with it a thought of her. She's all the old man has to love. The other Mildred is dead long years ago. while T'iohard, Heaven only knows wh'-.e my boy Kicliard is," and leaning on hii 2;old-headed cTiie. the Judge seemed to be wandering away back in the past, while Lawrence, who thought the comparison between the oak and the vine very line, very appropriate, nn>l all that, but couldn't, for the life of him, .'=ee what it had to do with hissjit-akitig to Mildred that night, viiituitJ k. liii to Bay : "And I may telL Mildred of my love- may 1 not?" Then the Judge roused up an answered, " Only on condition that you both stay here with me. The oak "Hlithers when the vine is torn away, and I, too, should die if I knew Milly had left me forever. Man alive, you can't begin to guess how I love the vixen, nor how the sound of her voice makes the little laughing ripples break all over my old heart. "There comes the gipsy now," and the, little laughing ripples, as he called them, broke all over his face, as he saw Mildred galloping to the door, her starry eyes looking archly out from beneath her riding hat, and her lips wreathed with smiles as she kissed her hand to the Jndge. "Yes, boy, botheration, ye-i," whispered the latter, as Lawrence pulled his sleeve for an answer to his question, ere hastening to help the ladies alight. "Talk to her all night if you want to, I'll do my best to keep back 'softening of the brain,' " and he nodded toward Lilian, v/ho was indulging herself in little bits of feminine screams as her horse showed signs of being frightened at a dog lying behind aoir** bushes. But the Judge had promised more ^..an ha was capable of perfoimiug. All that even- ing he manoeuvred most skilfully to scnarata Lilian from Mildred, but the thing could not be done, for just so sure as he asked the former to go with him upon tho piazza and tell him the names of the stars, just so sure ,she answered that " she didn't know as stars had names," suggesting the while that he take Mildred, who knew everything, and when at last he told her, jokingly as it were, that " it was time children and fools were in bed," she answered wi<'h more thau her usual quickness : ""■ " I would advise you to go then." • < • "Sharper than I s'posed," he thought, and turning to Lawrence, he whispered : "No use— no use. She sticks like shoe- maker's wax, but I'll tell what, when she is getting ready to go to-morrow I'll call Milly down, on the pretence of seeing her for something, and then you'll have a chance,'* and with this Lawrence was fain to be satis- fied. He did not need to go to Oliver, for an explanation of his words — ho knew now wliat they meant — knew that tne beautiful Mildred did care for him, and when he at last laid his head upon his pillow, he could see in the future no cloud to darken his pathway, unless it were his fathers anger, and even that did not seem very formid- able. " He will change his mind when he sees how determined I am," he thought. " Mil- dred won the crusty Judge's heart— she will i h IJ t.ti 3 I. t i . 3 !: • if • 1 h ii I' I ' m "^ V i 4B MILWJED. i win his as well. Lilian will shed some tears, I supuosR, and (Jeraldine will scold, but after* kaowing liow Lilian deceived ine, I could 'not marry her, even were there no Mildred ' with the starry eyes and nut- brown hair.'" He knew that people had applied these terras to his young step-mother, and it was thus that he loved to think of Mildred, whose eyes were as bright as stars and whose hair waa a rich nut-brown. He did not care who her parents were, he said, though his mind upon that point was pretty well estab- lished, but should he be mistaken, it was all the same. Mildred, as his wife and the daughter of J udga Howell, would be above all reproach, and thus, building pleasant castles of the future, he fell asleep. CHAPTER XII. THE PROPOSAL, "Mi33 Veille," said the Jndse at the break- fast-table next morning, "the carriage will be round in jusit an hour, and as, if you are at all like Milly, you have a thousand and one traps to pick up, you'd better be about it" "Milly is going to help me. I never could do it alone, returned Lilian, sipping her coffee very leisurely and lingering in the dining-room to talk with Lawrence, even after breakfast was over. Mildred, however had gone upstairs, and thither Judge Howell followed, tinding her, as he expected, folding up Lilian's clothes, and placing them in her trunk. " That girl is too lazy to breathe," he said. " Why don't she come and help you, "when I've a particular reason for wishmg you to hurry," and, by way of accelerating matters, he :rumpied in a heap two of Lilian's muslin dresses, and ere Mildred could atop him, had jammed them into a band box, con- taining the mite of a thiug which Lilian call- ed a bonnet. A lace bertha next came under consider- ation, but Mildred snatched it from him just as he was tucking it away with a pair of Inilia rubbers. "You ruin the things!" she cried. "What's the matter ?" " I'll tell you, gipsy," he answered, in a whisper, " I want to see you alone a few minutes before tliey go off. I tried last night till I sweat, but had to give it up." "We are alone now," said Mildred, while the Judge replied: "Hang it all, 'taint r/te that wants to see you. Don't you understand ?" Mildred confessed her ignorance, and he was about to explain, when Lilian came up iwith a letter juat received from her sister. " The Lord help me," groaned the Judce, while Lilian, thinking he spoke to her, said: "What, sir?" " I was swearing to myself," he replied, and adding in an aside to MiMred: " Come down as quick as you can," he left the room. Scarcely had he gone when Lilian began: " Guess, Milly, what Geraldine has writ- ten. She says Lawrence was intending to propose to me while he was here, and she thinks I'd better manage— dear me, what was it she said," and opening the letter she read : " ]f he has not already offered himself, and a favourable opportunity should occur, you had better adroitly lead the con- tersatiou in that direction. A great deal can sometimes be accomplished by a little skilful manasement." " 1 he>-e, that's what she wrote, and now, what does she mean for me to do ? Why, Mildred, you are putting my combs and brushes in my jewel-box I What aila you ?" " So I am," returned Mildred. " I am hardly myself thii morning." " It's because I'm going away, I suppose ; but say, how can I adroitly lead the conver- sation in that direction ?" "I'm sure I don't know." answered Mil* dred, but Lilian persisted that she did, and at last, in sheer despair, Mildred said : "You might ask him if he ever intended to be married." " Well then, what?" said Lilian. " Mercy, I don't know," returned Mildred. " It would depend altogether upon his an- swer. Perhaps he'll say he does— perhaps he'U say ho don't." This was enough to mystify Lilian com- pletely ; and, with a most doleful expression she began to change her dress, saying the while : "I sec you won't help me out ; but I don't care. He most offered himself that night I sat with him when you were down with Clubs ;" and she repeated, in an exaggerated form, several things which he had said to her, while all the while poor Mildred's tears rere dropping into the trunk which she was packing. Ever since Oliver had told her Oi Law- rence's drc . ning crv there had been a warm, sunny spot in her heart, but Lilian's words had chilled it, and to herself she whispered sadly : " Oliver did not hear aright It was 'Lily i dear Lily !' ho said." "Mildred I" screamed the Judge from the lower hall, "come down here, (juick ; I want you for as much as fifteen minutes ; and you, Miss Lilian, if that pac' iug isn't done, hurry up, or Thornton wiii go off without you-" . * iA. I i THE PROPOSAL 48 ned the Judffe, ;e to her, Mid: he Teplied, Mred: "Come i left the room. Lilian began: line has writ- IS intending to as here, and ane— dear me, ining the letter kl ready offered >rtuuity should y lead the con* great deal can a little skilful rote, and now, to do? Why, my combs I I What aiit dred. «• am »y, I suppose ; ad the couver* answered Mil* t she did, and Wild red said : er intended to limed Mildred. r upon his an> does— perhaps ry Liliari com* sful expression iss, saying the it ; but I don't [f that night I re down with m exaggierated e had said to lildred*s tears vhich she was her oi Law* i been a warm, Lilian's words she whispered It was 'Lily I udge from the i|uick ; I want ites ; and you, 5 isn't done, ;o oS without I «'I think it's ri^ht hateful in him." mut- tered Lilian, adding, in a coaxing tone, as Mildi«d was leaving the toom, "won't you kind of be thinking how I can lead the conver* tuliou in that diiectioo. for 1 shall have a splendid chance in the cars, and you can whisper it to me before 1 go." *'l wonder what he wants of her f aha continued to herself as MiUlietl tan down atairs. " I mean to hurry and see,'* and so ahe quickened her moventeuts that scarce* ly ten minutes had elapsed cro her trunk was ready, and abo had started in quest of Mildred. " Go back, yoo filigree. Toa ain't wanted there;" and the Judge, who kept guard in the hall below, interposed is cano between her and the door of tho drawing; so often. 6u(t lot finish your rttc to her to* tho matter cle* returned Law- little uneasy at draw so much icr real dc-siRU, % thon^h lie rlid wonder at her being so very r-trdial wlicn sho had always looked upon him as her brotlicr-in-law elect. "As long as there is no lielp for it she means to make the bi-st of it, I presume," he thought, and wish- ini; she mii^lit transfer some of her sense to "Lilian, he went to his room to write the letter, which would tell Mildred Howell that the words he said to her that morning nvere in earnest. Could (ieraldine have secured the letter land destroyed it, she would nnhesitatingly «h;we done so, but Lawrence did not leave his room until it was completed, and when last hft went out, he carried it to the ofHce, and thus placed it beyond her reach. But the wily woman had another plan, and going to Lilian, who had really made herself sick with ■weeping, she casually inquired what time Judge Howell usually received his Boston letters. " At nisht, if ho sends to the office," said •IjihaH, ** and in the morning if he don't." " He tuill send to-morrow ni^ht," thought Goraldine, for madtmoiselle will be expecting a letter, aud as she just then heard Mr. Thornton entering his room, she stepped auross the hall and knocked cautiously at the door. Mr. Thornton was not in a very amicable mood that uight. Business was dull — money scarce — debts were constantly coming in with no means of cancelling them, and in the dreaded future he fancied he saw the word ■•Insolvent," coupled with his own name. From this there was a way of escape. Lilian Veille had money, and if she were Lawrence's v/ife, Lawrence as his junior partner could use the money for the benefit of the firm. This was a strong reason why he was so aaxious for a speedy marriage between the two, and was also one cause of his professed aversion to Mildred Howell. Having never seen Judge Howell and Mildred together, he did not know how strong was the love the old man bore the child of his adoption, and he did not believe he would be foolish enough to give her much of his hoarded wealth. Thornton must marry Lilian, and that soon, he was thinking to himself as ho entered his room, ior his son's marriage was the burden of his thoughts, and having just heard of his return, he Was wondering whether he had eneeQ suddenly callfd «ge rolled: down the estless desire to talk It ran off to Oliver. ler Lawrence waim B almost as happy as whispered softly aa Cold Spring path, lot knowing what it r little she dreamed ve which burned in nd burned there the must not let it be le tried to quench it elike oil poured Qp> 1 the midnight hour, to hear, he cried in ill the Good Father to love her, for I 'rning, but he wel. accnstorood smile ; ivas to see her, and brought into his > very dark tome laid, and his long, y over her shining caressing her hair, ct«d it, bent her liar tourh. [o without coming d at the question i. She could not 'ith her usual im- and asked, if "as i Lawrence would r if Lilian hadn't »d{ adding, as he 8 : "Does it make •pyto know that oves her ?" » me happier than ife. 1 wish you know the feelinc ^im." * ••Oh, Milly! Milly I" It VkAtt a cry of anguish, wrung from a fainting heart, but Mildred thought it a cry of pain. "What is it, Oliver?" she said, and her soft hand was laid on his face. " Where is the pain ? Can I help it T Can I cure it T Oh, 1 w'sh I rould. There, don't that make ft better?" and she kissed the pale lips where there was the shadow of a smile. •' Yea, I'm better," he answered. •'Dou't, Mi1ly> please don't," and he drew back as Ihe saw her about to repeat the kiss. Mildred looked at him in surprise, say- 'Ing: *• Why, Oliver, I thought you loved me." ' There was reproach in her soft, lustrous eyes, and folding his feeble arms about her, Oliver replied : *• Heaven grant that you mav never know how much 1 love you, darling.'* She did not understand him even then, but satianed that it was all well between them, she released herself Irom his embrace and continued : " Do you think he'll write and fjaish what he was going to say ?" " Of course he will," answered OJ'«'er, and Mildred was about to ask if he believed she'd get the letter next night, -vhen old Heusy came up and said to her rather stiffly: ••\ou've talked with him longenouch. lies all beat out now. It's curia what little sense some foil. d has." "Ccari'linother," Olivei attempted to say, but Mildred's little band was placed upon his lips, and Mildred herself said : "She's right, Oily. I have worried you to death. I'm afraid 1 do you more hurt than Rood by coming to see you so often.'* He knew she did, but he would not for that that she should stay away, even though her thoughtless words caused him many a bitter pang. "Come again to-morrow," he said, as she went from his side, and telling him that «he would, she bounded down the stairs, taking with her, as tho poor, sick Oliver, thought, all the brightness, all the sunshine, and leaving in its stead only weariness and pain. Up the Cold Spring path she ran, blithe as a 6iiiging-1)ird, for she saw the Judge upon tho baok piazza, and knew be had re- turned. "Come here, Gipsy," he cried, and in an instant Mililred was at his side. "Broke np in » row, didn't we ?" he said, parting back her huir, and tapping her rosy chin. "How far along had he got?" "Ho hadn't got along at all," answered Mildred, "and I don't believe he was going to say anj tiling, do you ?" Much as ho wished to tease her, the Judge could not resist the pleoding of those eyes* and he told her all he knew of the matter, bidding her wait patiently until tomorrow night, and see what the mail would bring her. •'Oh, I wish it wore to-rtoxrow now," sighed Mildred. "I'm afraid there's some mistake, and that he didn't mean me, after all." Laughing at what he called her nervous- ness, the Judge walked away to give some orders to his men, and Mildred tried vskrious methods of killing time, and making the day seem shorter. Just before sunset she stole away again to Oliver, but Hepsy would not let her see him. ••He'salluswus after you've been up there," she said. •'He's too weakly to stan the way you rattle on, so you may as well go back," and Mildred went back, wondering how her presence could make Oliver worse, and think- ing to herself that she would not go to see him once daring the next day, unless, in- deed, the letter came, and then she must show it to him — he'd feel so badly if she didn't. The to-morrow so much wished for came at last, and spite of Mildred's belief to the contrary, the hours did go ou as usual, until it was Hve o'clock, and she heard the Judge tell Finn to saddle the horses, and ride with him to the village. "I am going up the mountain a few miles," he said; "and as Mildred will want to seethe evening pa]:)ers before my return, you must bring them home." The Judge knew it was not the papers she wantcnt> in the sunlight the feet which his dead mother used to pity and kiss— he turned them round— took them in his hands, and, while his tears dropped fast upon them, he whispered niournfuiry: "This is the curse which stands between me and Mildred Howell. Wcrei' not for this I would havo won her lovo ero Lawrence 'J'iiornton ciuum with his handsome face and pleasant ways ; but it cannot be. She will be his l>ride, an ; he will ciierish her long years after tho gi n^ is growing green over poor forgotten Clulis: Tiiere was a light step on the stairs : ^]\\■ dred was coming up ; and, hastily eovcrini; bis feet, he forced a smile upon his face, ainl handing her the letter, said: "It's just as I expected. You'll consent, of course ?" " Yes, but I shall write evet so much be- fore I come to that, just to tantalize hini," returued Mildred, adding that she'd brin!> her answer down for Oliver to see if it would dol A half-stifled moan escaped Oliver's lips but Mildred did not hear it, and she went dancing down stairs singing to herself : *• Never mornliirf smiled BO Rayly, Kcvcrsky such raUiaaco wore, , ,. Never passed into the suuahiue Such a merry queen before." " A bod v'd s'poso you'd nothing to do but to sing and dance and trample onmy coma," growled Hcpsy, still bu«iy with her pease and casting a rueful glrtnco at her foot, en- cased in a most wonderful shoe of her own manufacture. "I am sorry, Annt ITepsy," said Mildred, " but your feet are always in the way," and singing of the " sunshine," and the " merry queen of May," she went back to B.ceehWood*, where a vibitor was waiting for her, Mr. Robert Thornton! Ho had followed Geraldine's instructions implicitly, and simultaneously with the MajHcld mail-bag he entered tlie hotel where the Post-office was kept. Senting himself in the sitting-room opposite, he wa ched the people as they came in for iheir evenin;,' papers, until, at last, looking ficm the win- dow, ho caught Bight of the Judge and Finn. Moving back a little, so as not to be ob- served, he saw the former take the letter which ho knew had been written l)y his son — saw, too, the expression of the Judce's face as he glanced at the superscription, anrl then handed it to Finn, bidding him hurry home, and saying he should not return for two hours or more. "Everjithing works well thus far," thought Mr. Thornton; "but I wish it was over," and with a gloomy, forbidding face^ ho walked the floor, wondering how ho should approach Mildred, and feeling thr.t the Judge at least was out of the way. "I'd rather stir up a nhole menagerie of wild beosts than that old man," he said to him- self, "though I don't apprehend much trouble from him either, for of course he'd take sides with his so-called son-in-law sooneir than with a nameless girl. I wonder how long it takes to read a love-letter t " 9n\ tir I t THE ANiWEIl. 40 t for this I wotiM hnv. wrenco Tlioniton cm,. coand ph.ftBaiit wuv.s ■ e will l.e his l.ri.le, an, ig years Rf tor t)i« ft, ,, poor forgotten CI u I, s; tep on theatftirg J M,\. ft»n of the Judge's Jpcrscnj)tion, and >Kl(ling him hurry lid not return for ^11 thna far," nit I wish it was . forbidding face, ing how ho should ft-'eling thr.t the the way. "I'd lenagcrio of wild he said to him- pprohend much T of course he'd illcd son-in-la\r ' girl. I wonder ovo-Ietter ? " • *'• Supper, sir," cri<»d the jolourcd waiter, and thinUnig this as good a way of killing time &r, any, Mr. Thorntun fuutd ids way to the (iiniug-roiim. But he was too excibod to eat, and forcing dowii a cup (if tea l;o started for Beechwood, th« road to wliich was a familiar one, for jeari before he had traversed it often in 'facst of his young girl-wif^ Now it was Another Mildred hu sought, and ringing the •>|>ell ho inquired " if Mies Howell was in?" h "Down to Hepsy'a. I'll go after her," ■aid Luce, at the same time showing him into « the drawing-room and asking his name. KlSD. ^W 'i ! He hml tot Rone up th« mountain na he tnteniU'ii, ami litid re»olielt the defiant hard- n's lirat words had way. Covering her sobbed : A hat shall I do f" and ttiU him no," ile Mildred moaned: ucii, oh, 80 much." irned Mr. Thornton, le worst was not yet I, and her claim is s Howell — Lawrence ut he would tire of ore otr. Pardon ma le Thorntons are a , perhaps, in Boston. and in h moment of shrink from making nta^o ia as doubtful as with an sene occurnul to her metime blush when and with her bright ton's face she liaten* continued t came to Beeohwood . that ho conld not i(6s the mystery of |ar. But when here, xicated with your iss Howell, you are low, wliile he paid rl \vho9u lip curled cast it from her in t< rime, T presume, vill pr ivail at last. Iittil ^y the Judgp, i.ir will notpreTent ling viiu her child. (Ill ail' not my son's ney ain't forthcoming the very day, , hanged if I don't foreclose 1 I'll taach you to Bay Mildred ain't good enough for your son. .Mali alive! she's goad enon^jh for the ' Emperor of France ! Get out of my house 1 ! Waatare you waiting fort" and, standing br.ck, he made way for the discomtited Mr. '., Thornton to pass out. . In the hall the latter paused and glanced ' toward Mildred as if he would 'jpeak to her, .while the Judge, diviuing his thoughts, ', Ihundeied out: " I'll see thai she keeps her word. She never told a lie yet." One bittex look of hatred Mr. Thornton oast upon him, and then movea slowly down the w:>,lk, hearing, even after he reached the r gate, the words : " Hanged if I don't f-reclose !" , "There! that's done with!" said the I Juti_s;e, walking back to the parlour, where Mildred still lay uppu the sofa, stunned, and ■' faint, and nnabls to move. "Poor little . girl," iie began, lifting up her head and ^ pil owing it upon his .broad cheat. "Are you almost killed, poor little Spitfire? You , fought bravely through r. spell, till he begaa to twit you of your mother — the dog ! Just as thouah you wasn't good enough for his boy ! You did right, darling, to say you wouldn't have him. There 1 there !" and he held her closer to him, as she moaned : ■' Oh, Lawrence 1 Lawrence 1 how can I give you up ?" "It will be hard at first, I reckon," return- / ed the Judge ; " jut you'll get over it in lime. I'll take you over to England next Jummer, and hunt up a nobleman for yori : then see what Bobum will say when ho hears you are Lady Somebody. " Bee Mildred did not care for the nobleman, One thought alone distracted her thoughts. She had promised to refuse Lawrence Thornton, and, more than all, she could give him no good reason for her refusal. ^ " Oh, I wish I could wake vip and find it all a dream !" she cried; but, alas I she could not ; 't was a stern reality ; and covering her face with her hands, she wept aloud as she pictured to herself Lawrence's grief and amazement when he received the letter which she must vrite. " I wish to goodness I knew what to say!" thought the Judge, greatly moved at the sight of her distress. Then, aa a new^ idea occurred to him, he said : "Hadn't you better go down and tell it all to OJ'zba, — he can comfort you, I guess. He's younger twan I am, and his heart ain't all puckered up like a pickled plum. " Yes, Oliver could comfort her, Mildred be* lieved ; for if there was a ray of hope he would be sure to see it ; and although it tl^eu was nearly nine, she vesolved to go to him at once. Hepsy would fret, she knew ; but she did not care for her, — she didn't care for anybody : and drying her tears, she was soon moving down the Cold Spring path, not lightly, joyously, aa she was wont to do, bi*- slowly, sadl^, for the world was changed to her since she trod that path before, sing ing of the sunshiue and tbc merry queeu of May. She found old Hepsy knitting by the door, and enjoying the bright moonlight, inasmuch as it precluded the necessity of wasting » tallow candle. " Want to see Oliver V she growled, "You ca a't do it. There's d" sense m your having so much whisperi.-ig up there, and that's the end on't, Widdei Simms says it don't look well for you, a big, grown-up girl, to be hangin' round Oliver. " " Widow Simms is an old gossip I"retur-. ed Mildred, adding by way of gaining hei- point, that she wrs going to "buy a pair of new, large slippers tor Hepsy's corns." The old lady 5ho>/ed signs of relenting at once, and when Mildred threw iu a box of black snuff with a Lean in it, the victory was won, and she at liborty to join Oliver. He heard her well-knov»'n step, but he was not prepared for her white face and swollen "yes, and in much alarm he asked her what had happened. '' Oh, Oliver 1" she cried, burying her face in the pillow, "it's all over. I shall never marry Lawrence. I have promided to refuse him, and my heart is aching so hard that T most wish I were dead." Vtry wonderingly he looked at her, as in a few words she told him of the excitihg scene through which she had been passing since she left him so full of hope. Then lay- ing her head a second tim»> upon th*. pillow, shi} cried aloud, while Oliver, too, covering his face with the sheet, wept great burning tears of joy — joy at Mildred'd pain. Poor, poor Oliver; he could not help it, and for CO ai] ^ 7 ; and covering le wept aloud aa ^fence's grief and 3ived the letter ewwhat to aay!" y moved at the irred to him, he down and tell it >rt you, I guesB. d his heart ain't 5d plum. " her, Mildred be- ray of hope he and although it esolved to go to fret, she knew ; —she didn't care iT teara, she was Id Spring path, was wont to do, rid was changed ath before, sing merry queeuof ;ingbythedoor, ilight, inasmuch ty of wasting » I growled. "Yoo J in your having , and that's the ys it don't look •"P girl, to be ;os8ip r'retur.v ' of gaining her "buy a pair of scorns." of relenting at 'ew iua box of the victory was in Oliver. He but he was not id swollen "yes, her what had urying her face I shall never mided to refuse fio hard that T rl at her, as in of the exciting been passing )o. Then lay. un thv. pillow, too, covering great burning • pain. Poor, Ip it, anc". for WHAT FOLLOWED. 53 one single moment he abandoned himself to the -lifishness which M'hispered that the world wou'd be the brighter and his life the' happier if none ever had a better claim to Mildred than himselt. " Ain't you going to comfori me one bit ?" came plaintively to hia ear, but he did n,ot answer. Tl . ! 4 ' i 1: o M MILDRED. answered Geraldine. "He is veiy much embarrassed, he tells mt and unless he can procure money he is h i he will have to Uil. Lily might let him have hers, I snp* pose, if it wete well secured." Lawrence did not repl^, for, truth to say, he was just then thinKing more of his ex- pected letter than of his father's failure, and taking his hat he walked rapidly to the ofHce, already crowded with eager faces. There were several letters in the Thcrnton box that night, but LaMrrence cared for only one, and that the one bearng the Mayfield post- n^ark. He knew it was from Mildred, for he had seen her plain, decnled handwriting before, and he gave it a loving squeeze, just as he would have given the fair writer, if ■he had been there instead. Too impatient to wait until he reach his home, he tore the letter open in the street, and read it, three times, before he could believe that he read aright, and that he was rejected. Crumpling the cruel lines in his hand, he hurried on through street after street, know- ing nothing where he was going, and caring less, so suddenly and crushingly had the blow fallen upon him. " I cannot be yoar wife — I cannot be your ^ife!" he heard it ringing in his ears, turn whjch way he would, and with it at last came the maddening thought that tho reason why she could not bo his wife was that she lovsd another. Oliver had been dccei\-ed, the Judge had been deceived, and he had been cruelly deceived. But he exonoiated Mildred from all blame. RI.e liad never eucouraged liim by a %vord or liH>k, cxet-pt inrlced when she sat by him upon the sofa, and he thought ho saw in her speaking face that she was not inditfeyeot to him. But he was mistakca. He knew it now, and, with a wildly beating heart and whirling brain, ho wandered on and on, until theeveuingshadowa were bepinuingtolfall. and ho felt the night dew on his burni:)g forehead. Then ho turned honiew.ird, where more than one waited anxiously his coming. Mr. Thornton had leturufd, and, entering his house just after Lawrcnco left it, had communicated to (iern)dinn tho result of his late advcntut'.', withholding in a measure tho part which tho old Judge had taken in tho affair, and sayin^j nothing of tho will, which had so astonished him. " Do you think she'll keep her promise ?" Geraldino asked. But Mr. Thornton could not tell, and both watched nervously for Lawrence. Geraldine was tho first to seo him ; she stood upon the stairs when lio came into tho hall. Tho gas was already lighted, showing the ghastly whiteness of his face, and by that she knew that Mildred Howell had kept her word. An dine knocked softly hour later when Geral- at his door, and heard his reply, "Engaged," she muttered, "Not to Mildred Howell though," and then wunt to her own room, where lay sleeping the Lilian for whoso sake this snfTenng was catised. Assured by Geraldine that all would yet be well, she had dried her tears, and, as she never felt badly long upon any subject, she was to all appearances on the best of terms with Lawrence, Avho, grateful to her for behaving so sensibly, treated her with even more than his usual kindness. The illness of which Geraldine had written to Mildred was of course a humbug, for Lilian was not one to die of a broken heart, and she lay there sleeping sweetly now, while Geraldine paced the floor, wondering what Mildred Howell had written and what the end would be. The next morning Lawrence come down to breakfast looking so hacgavd and worn that his father involuntarily" asked if he were sick. "No, not sick," was Lawrence's hurried answer, as he piokcd at the enowy roll and affected to sip his coffee. "You have had bad news, I'm sure/' said Geraldino, throwing into her manner as much concern as possible. Lawrence piade no reply, except indeed to place his feet tipon the back of a chair ard fold his hands "ogether over his head. I was a little fearful of some such denou- jKf^if," Geraldine continued, " for, as I hinted to you on Friday, I was almost cer- tain she fancied young Hudson. He called here last eveoing — and seemed very con- scious when I cai'.nlly mentioned her name. What leasou does she give for refusing yon ?" "None whatever," said Lawrence, shifting his position a little by upsotti^ig the chair on which hi.s feet were placed. "That's strange," returned Geraldine, in- tently studying thepattern of the carpet as if she would there find acause for thestrangeness. "Never mind, coz," she added, laughingly, "don't let one disappointment break your heart. There are plenty oor, and heard uttered, "Not md tlien wunt r sleeping the suffering was (line that all ried her tears, loug upon auy arances on tlie , who, grateful y, treated her kindness, ne had written humbug, for broken heart, sweetly now, or, wondering btcn and what CO mo down to and worn that cd if he were •pnce's hnrrieil !UOAvy roll and s, I'm sure/' her manner as except indeed ack of a chair er his head, such denou- "for, as I 'as almost cer- He called cd very con- icd her name, for refusing i-enco, shifting i-ig the chair jcraMine, in- ihe carpet as if 16 strangeness. 1, laughingly, 1 break your girls besides re young Hud- who was be- ous of young he thought, told me so ? dark ? Does ti'a mother in believed, and e, hn resolved and forgetting his father's request that he shonld "cdie down to the ofhce as soon as convenient,'^ he •pent the morning in writing to Mildred a second time. He had intended to tell her that he guessed the reason of her refusal, but instead of that he poured out his whole soul in one paesionate entreaty for her to think again, and reconsider lier derision. No other one could love her as he did, he said, and he besought of lier to give him one word of hope to cheer the despair which had fallen so darkly around him. The letter being sect, Lawrence sat down in a kiud of apathetic despair to await the result, • • • • • t ■ •* WLat, hey, the bey has written, has 0e T" and adjusting his gold specs, the old Judge looked to see if the eight ,Dage8 Finn had just given to him were really j|rom Law* rence Thornton. "He's got cood grit," daid he, "and I like him for it, out hanged if I doa't teach Bobum a lesson. I can feel big M well as he. Gipsy not good enough for AIM boy ! I'll show him. She looks brighter to-day than she did. She ain't going to let it kill her, and as there's no use worrying her for nothing, I shan't let her see this. But I can't destroy it, nor read it neith.^r. 8o I'll just put it where the old Nick himself cojldu't find it," and touching the hidden spring of a secret drawer, he hid the letter which Mildred, encouraged by Oliver, had half expected to receive. Tl':^c he repe'ated of the act when he saw how disappointed she seemed when he met her at the supper-tab!?, and though he had no idea of giving her ti e letter, he thought to make amends some other way. " I have it," he suddeu.^y exclaimed, as he ■at alone in his library, after Mildred had f;one to bed. " I'll dock off five thousand rom that missionary society and add it to Sp'tfire's portion. The letter ain't worth o>ora than that," and satisfied that he was making the best possible reparation, he broucht out his will and made the alteration, which took from the missionary society enough to feed and clothe several clergymen a year. Four days more brought another letter from Lawrence Thornton—larger, heavier tivan the preceding one, crossed all ov<)r, as could be plainly seen through the envelope, and worth, as the Judge calculated, about ten thousand dollars. So he place-l i